EMEA News
EC Finding on Gibraltar Bunkering "Hugely Significant"
A European Commission (EC) finding that Gibraltar did not breach environmental regulations is "hugely significant," Fabian Picardo, chief minister of the British overseas territory, said, according to the Gibraltar Chronicle.
The EC investigated a complaint by Spain and found Gibraltar did not act illegally by allowing bunkering in its waters, creating an artificial reef, and reclaiming land on the east side of the peninsula.
Picardo said the ruling was a confirmation that Spain does not have the authority it has claimed over Gibraltar's waters.
"What the reef has done is put at European level beyond peradventure the fact that that is British Gibraltar territorial water and that there is a boundary with Spanish territorial water somewhere beyond," he said.
That means that, despite the fact that the UK and Spain have overlapping European Union (EU)-designated nature sites, only the British management plan was considered relevant.
The UK plan allows bunkering, while the Spanish one does not.
Picardo said his government is not worried about a challenge to the findings in the European Court of Justice.
"An objective and fair tribunal cannot but find for Gibraltar on these issues, as the Commission, acting fairly and impartially, has already done," he said.
The EC's Directorate-General on Environment issued the ruling last month.
