EMEA News
Gibraltar Legislators Protest Spanish Bunkering Restrictions
Legislators in Gibraltar say that measures taken by the Spanish government, including bunkering restrictions, represent "unnecessary, immoral and unjustified heightening of political and diplomatic tension," the Gibraltar Chronicle reports.
The opposition party Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD) made the statement in response to comments by Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García Margallo.
"The Opposition offers its support to the Government in any efforts to secure a swift and satisfactory conclusion to this crisis without delay," the statement said.
"That must be our primary objective."
Tensions between Gibraltar, which is a self-governing territory of Great Britain, and Spain, which asserts a claim to the territory, ratcheted up last month when Gibraltar began creating an artificial reef using blocks of concrete, with Spain saying that the waters are Spanish and the reef would block its fishing boats, the Chronicle reported in a previous story.
Spanish authorities said the nation's tax department is cracking down on Gibraltar companies and people who have property in Spain, and the nation also intends to increase controls in the bay of Algeciras to prevent bunkering from taking place, according to Gibraltar online newspaper Panorama.
In September, Margallo said Spain indented to start regulating bunkering off Gibraltar's coast.
