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"Enough Is Enough" Raphael Palomino February 1999
Sr. Palomino was the first president
He is a member of the PSOE.
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Events in Gibraltar in recent weeks appear quite ridiculous to
us. Yes, the statements being made by various parties, but for a
few notable exceptions, the proposals put forward by the Spanish
Government, and the excuses being advanced for acting in the way
they do all these appear to us to be ridiculous.
What also appears ridiculous and worrying is the total absence of
any policy or strategy. This is obliging those who conduct our
affairs to improvise, and, as often happens in such cases, to
decide on courses of action which have not been thought through,
and which will soon have to be backtracked on.
The solution being proposed, after so much outrage, is well known
to us in the area: closure, no, I beg your pardon, I mean to say
an increase of controls at the frontier, and a development plan!
This imaginative solution - forgive the sense or irony - will
have foreseen to the smallest detail the consequences for
specific groups, for the local economies, for the Spanish
interests in relation to the Gibraltar dispute; a detailed
schedule will have been studied, although the experts prefer to
keep this secret at present, which assures Spanish workers a job
the day after they are sacked in Gibraltar, and similar
assurances for the restaurants and hotels that are empty, all
with thousands of Japanese investors who a high level ministry
official will put out from his sleeve!
Finally, the authors of this patriotic solution will have
predicted a great advance in community policy: cultural and
sporting associations will increase contact between the two
communities, Gibraltar will be eager to be Spanish, our relations
with other European countries will be improved, and....yes, we
will all be happy!"
This is all absurd. But also very sad. It is an insult to one's
intelligence. But, and this is the key point we want to make,
sadly, it could not have happened any other way.
Unfortuantely, what is happening is the result of an accumulation
of circumstances which, if only in summary form, let us analyse,
trying not to go into what is well known nor into what is being
repeated a nauseam in recent days.
Events highlighting the following:
1. An alarming spinelessness in the Campo de Gibraltar.
It has not been possible to find a solid administrative solution
which takes into account the specifics of the Region (Comarca)
and the wishes of its inhabitants.
On the contrary, much time has been wasted in political and
professional associations, principally in Cadiz, how to oppose
many of our aspirations. And this still continues to happen. It
would be illuminating to know, for example, the history of out
political parties, all of them, and their internal struggles
which weakened the infrastructure of our region.
The consequences of action by centralised provincial power
against our immediate region, and the lack of valour by us,
leading to our failure to create a regional administration which
meets our aspirations, are both, unfortunately, worrying.
The lack of spine which we refer to proves itself in the weakness
of parties in the Comarca in the municipalities and the
Mancommunidad de Municipios, in the lack of an interlocutor, in
the low level of links with trade unions, in the absence of
influential socio-cultural associations for the area. This
situation is an ideal atmosphere, for, in the best cases, the
appearance of those who promise the earth, or the grand entrance
of GIL acolytes as a solution to all our problems.
It was very clear that no institutionalised relationship with
Gibraltar exists and everything is reduced to sporadic contracts,
which, in the majority of cases, go nowhere or fail when, for
example, a particular mayor or minister from Gibraltar seeks with
"air's and graces" far minor advantage or a level or personal
protagonism.
What does not and cannot exist, for all these reasons, is a
neighbourly relationship which, on the sidelines of the "matters
of state," advances the understanding, friendship and joint
development which the communities living on either side of the
gate desire.
2. Madrid does not give the problem the slightest bit of
interest.
That may seem an excessively hard remark, and apart from
anything, a contradictory claim for this who see our Minister and
the Government of late making and announcing proposals on this
issue. I'll try and explain.
When a planned does not exist, continuously and regularly
effected, and with policy some clear final objectives - the most
important of which may be the recovery of sovereignty - and other
events ensure this; when the human and material resources on
evaluates the advances or retrocession that may take place.
When we lack so many things, we are entitled to think that the
Spanish Government is actually not interested in this important
matter, to which it has devoted no real attention. Of course,
when a particular problem arises, and it feels obliged to
intervene, it does so, as it has in recent weeks: rushing,
without calculating risks, weakly, and in bad faith.
Do you know how many officials of the Ministry are dedicated
exclusively to think, study, reflect and produce ideas and also
follow what is happening in Europe's only colony? None!
No one should therefore, be surprised by the somersaults, ups and
downs, and the lack of respect for the citizens of the Campo de
Gibraltar.
3. On the contrary, and as Spaniards it bothers us that this
is the case, each year we repeat a meeting with the Foreign
Office which asks on events there, and to express our concerns on
certain matters.
It is now ten or twelve years that we have lacked any form of
institutional responsibility or policy. This process, and the
means by which it operates, is something unknown to us but, we
are assured, it is infinitely superior to ours. It allows a
political line to exist which, the Spanish Foreign Ministry
participates. A fixed feature: all the ministers of Great
Britain we have known have included in their statements on
Gibraltar that "nothing will be done against the wishes of
Gibraltarians."
4. The vast majority of Spanish citizens, including those in
the Campo, have no understanding of the socio-exonomic reality of
Gibraltar or its politics, its centuries of history, its
relations with Spain in other areas, its rights and its culture,
its fears, its deficiencies, and its problems.
Whilst we Spaniards seek a solution satisfactory to Spain on the
Gibraltar dispute, they too seek an agreement which does not
prejudice them and which is acceptable to the people of
Gibraltar.
These positions can appear to be very far apart. We believe they
are not so. In any case, the climate is not the best calculated
to move forward one of the possible options.
Matutes has made his mistake, from our stand-point, when he threw
the recent proposals out of the window, losing out on what could
have been a good starting point. One has to understand llanitos.
They are people. We cannot just punish them when they do
something we do not like.
5. The recent Governments of Gibraltar have not known how to
adapt to new circumstances: the opening of the frontier, the
complexity of Spanish society, new economic opportunities, the
evolution of the EU, the distinct structure of the GDP in
Gibraltar, just to name a few.
Gibraltarian leaders, for example, are not aware of the political
structure in Spain, its most important and influential people,
how the economy functions, etc. They have made a great effort to
publicise, in the remotest parts of the world, Gibraltar's
opportunities, but they have not done so with the same intensity
in Spain. There are offices to promote Gibraltar in the most
exotic places, with limited market opportunities, but not in the
most important cities in Spain.
They have rejected the sharing of infrastructural services with
the Campo for fear of suffering some form of restrictions when
relations with pain deteriorate.
They have not been able to become known by, and, as such,
understood by Spain; they have certain complex which shows itself
in the apprehensive, or semi-paranoid, character as to the
exercise of some of their powers, and they become obsessed with
broadening these, even if only artificially, irrespective of
whether this just confronts them with Spain or simply paralyses
the opportunity of measures that are benefit to them.
CONCLUSION
Well, a Comarca lacking in backbone, a Government that does not
take matters in hand, and some Gibraltarians on the defensive,
all this joined to an absolute absence of method, structure and
co-ordination, creates scope for almost anything to happen.
For example, there is the fishing conflict.
It is enough that the fishermen, tired of repeated non-fulfilment
of agreements between Spain and Britain have decided to deal with
Peter Caruana to make our minister so inflamed that he has moved
to virtually close the frontier.
What happened with fishermen can happen with any form of problem,
be it the Spanish worker in Gibraltar, pensioners, the hotel
sector of the Campo, businessmen who sell all types of goals on
the Rock, with Ilanitos who live in Spain, with the sick who need
urgent care, with school trips, with tourists from other
countries, with Gibraltar businessmen.
The fishing dispute it not itself important. The very serious
issue is that such things can happen.
We will see how things develop in the coming days. It would be
great if normality is restored that events serve to introduce a
more rational approach to this issue.
And another thing: if the Plan for Development is finally
approved, and the same day a Steering Committee is set up for it
with parliamentary representation, many will remember how things
were done years back and it would be good if some friends area of
Alvarez Cascos invites the members of the Committee down to take
a walk through the Campamento industrial area and El Zabal, to
see what is left of previous such plans.
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