A ROCKY START

By Humphrey Carter THE start of the trilateral talks between Britain, Spain and Gibraltar about the future of the Rock was delayed yesterday after the British delegation allegedly missed their flight to Palma from London. A photo-call of the three delegations had been scheduled for 8pm yesterday evening, but at 7pm, only the Gibraltar delegation headed by the Chief Minister Peter Caruana was at the conference hotel in Calvia. The British delegation, led by the Foreign Office's director general for European Affairs, Dominick Chilcott, according to Spanish government sources in Palma, missed its flight and did not arrive until around 9pm. Chilcott's Spanish counterpart, Josep Pons, also arrived late yesterday due to extended political commitments in Madrid. Caruana was remaining tight-lipped yesterday evening, refusing to comment on the talks or the delays in the arrival of the British and Spanish delegations. The meeting, which should have started yesterday evening over dinner did however briefly get underway once the British arrived and the meeting will continue after an early breakfast this morning with talks due to come to a close at 2pm. This latest round of trilateral negotiations are considered to be extremely important for the future of the Rock. Depending on their success, the meetings may well bring this latest round of negotiations over Gibraltar's future to a close. Britain's Foreign Minister Jack Straw and Spain's Miguel Angel Moratinos are due to meet before Christmas to discuss, and possibly approve, solutions agreed on here in Majorca. Topping the agenda will be the issue of pensions for former Spanish employees on the Rock, cross-border co-operation, improved telecommunications and joint use of the airport. The latter is however proving to be a stumbling block. Gibraltar airfield is a military area owned by the RAF and they do not consider it in the interests of national security to have Spanish police inside in the airport. There are also fears that, once the Spanish police have a foothold in the airport, they will want to move into the port area. Some have suggested building a new civilian-run passenger terminal, but that has been rejected. One topic not on the agenda is sovereignty, although, according to Spanish government sources, the issue of sovereignty will have to be discussed one day. In the meantime, Spain's director general of European and North American foreign policy, the Majorcan Josep Pons, says that the trilateral talks in Calvia “present an opportunity to re-establish a good environment in which the issues (sovereignty) can be discussed in the future.” Pons said that this round of talks is “crucial and decisive if we are going to reach an agreement over the bilateral issues - such as the airport, resolving the telecommunications problems and the launch of a joint sports facilities programme.” Pons has been personally involved with Majorca hosting the talks which, since the trilateral forum was started in August of 2004, has met in Malaga and Portugal. Peter Caruana considers the talks extremely important as the forum is the first time Gibraltar has been invited to sit down with Britain and Spain to discuss the future of the Rock and its 30'000 “British Europeans.” Caruana said last week that the population is very proud to be British and wants to remain British. “It is something the British people should be very proud of,” he said. “I think the main reason Britain and Spain stopped talking about our future without our participation was the huge amount of overwhelming support we have from the British people,” Caruana said in an interview during the Conservative Party conference in Blackpool last week. In his speech, Tory Party leadership candidate David Cameron vowed to not let the people of Gibraltar down if elected. Peter Caruana does not want to let his people down either, hence he will be eager to get talks underway swiftly this morning.