Cooperation in the Campo de Gibraltar after Brexit. New framework for frontier workers

Abstract

Brexit has directly impacted Spain’s relationship with the UK due to the Gibraltar issue. The British withdrawal from the EU has forced the redefinition of the European statute of Gibraltar, and its relations with Spain and the European Union, in institutional, legal and economic terms. In this context, novel mechanisms have also been devised to regulate the treatment of cross-border cooperation with Gibraltar, which has had intermittent phases in its evolution over time. Within the framework of the British exit process, a new model has been agreed in successive EU-UK agreements that combine Hard Law (Primary EU Law) with Soft Law (Memoranda of Understanding–MOU). This regulation has required a specific prior BritishSpanish negotiation. We will especially highlight the UK-EU Withdrawal Treaty of 2019, which has formed an authentic system of crossborder cooperation involving the UK, the EU, Gibraltar and Spain, through a series of Spanish-British bilateral Memoranda interconnected with the Protocol on Gibraltar of the Treaty, which in turn refers to the Tax Treaty. It is a new system of concrete cooperation on the rights of citizens and border workers, among other matters