Gib tug-of-war: Spain's foreign ministry hotly denies incursion and warns UK over 'inappropriate diplomatic behaviour'
Sunday, July 20, 2014 @ 8:46 PM
SPAIN'S foreign affairs secretary has given the UK government short shrift over its accusations of a 'provocative incursion' by the former's Naval forces into Gibraltarian waters.
MEP David Lidington called an emergency meeting with Spanish ambassador in the UK, Federico Trillo, to express his discontent after a Spanish Naval ship attempted to divert two vessels from the port of Gibraltar, claiming they were in Spain's waters – which they were not.
Lidington called the incident 'unacceptable' and 'another cynical attempt' by Spain to 'disrupt Gibraltar's economy, in contravention of international law'.
But Spanish foreign secretary Ignacio Ybáñez has passed on his 'most energetic protest and disgust' over what he maintains are 'rigorously false and unacceptable accusations' concerning the Spanish Navy's 'routine activity'.
He insists there was no breach of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea as Lidington states.
Ybáñez called a meeting with British ambassador in Spain, Simon Manley in answer to the UK having done likewise with Trillo in order to protest against 'the manner in which London has handled the supposed incident'.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com