Rocky road for Britain and Spain: Margallo announces border-crossing fees and tax inspections on Gibraltarians
Monday, August 5, 2013 @ 7:40 PM
BRITAIN has called for information from Spain about prohibitive measures it intends to put in place for Gibraltarians in what appears to be a 'tit-for-tat' situation following UK complaints about border queues.
Foreign affairs minister for Spain, José Manuel García-Margallo, has announced plans to charge a 50-euro entrance or exit fee to or from the Rock, closure of the airspace in the Cádiz province district of Campo de Gibraltar, and to set the taxman on the '6,000 or so Gibraltarians who own property in Sotogrande'.
Margallo insists that the border checks on cars travelling between Gibraltar and Spain, regularly leading to queues of between three and seven hours in intense heat, are 'in proportion' and that the Spanish authorities have the right to continue carrying them out.
But people who live in the province of Cádiz and work in Gibraltar fear that their jobs could be at risk with three to seven hours added twice-daily to their commute and regularly being late for work because of what the UK calls 'unjustifiable, unacceptable and disproportionate' border inspections.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com