The Government notes the statement from the GSD purportedly calling for the publication of a draft of the UK/EU Treaty before it is "signed up to".

First of all, the Government has already stated publicly that it will not approve a treaty until it is ratified by the Gibraltar Parliament after a debate on a motion. Before the motion is taken to the Parliament, the text will have had to be approved by the Cabinet. The GSD is therefore asking, in solemn tones, for the Government to confirm that which the Government has already confirmed publicly and in private directly to the Leader of the Opposition.

Additionally, the Opposition should know that international treaties cannot be ratified until they have received the requisite Parliamentary approval. That will mean at least the formal approval being required for ratification through the UK and EU constitutional procedures, as well as the Gibraltar position for a motion approving the same.

Finally, the Government notes that the GSD complains about how long it is taking to negotiate the treaty.  In this respect, two obvious points arise. 

The first is that the delay arises in part from Gibraltar not being prepared to accept certain positions, which, if we had accepted them, would have rendered the treaty unsafe for Gibraltar. The GSD seems to say we should have stopped defending our positions for the sake of an earlier treaty.  The Government does not agree with that proposition from the GSD.

The other, second, obvious issue that arises is that the GSD's call for a debate etc will only add to the time before a treaty is ratified, which runs contrary to their apparent call for urgency in completing the same.  The contradictory elements of the GSD positions are, as usual, unsurprising.

ENDS