UK and EU sign treaty to lift physical border checks at Gibraltar
Officials from the European Union, United Kingdom, Spain, and Gibraltar have finalised a deal to remove passport controls on the land border, aiming to secure economic stability for thousands of daily cross-border workers.
The European Union and the United Kingdom have signed a new treaty in Brussels that removes physical border checks between Spain and Gibraltar. The agreement, signed on Tuesday by European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic, British Minister of State for Europe Stephen Doughty, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares, and Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, resolves a long-standing post-Brexit impasse that had threatened to disrupt the region’s economy.
Under the terms of the treaty, residents of Gibraltar will be able to cross into Spain using residence cards, while Spanish citizens may enter Gibraltar using government ID cards. This arrangement effectively integrates Gibraltar into the EU’s Schengen free-travel area, allowing movement without passport stamps for daily commuters. However, the agreement explicitly maintains British sovereignty over the territory, which was secured by Britain in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.
The deal addresses issues left unresolved by the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which came into force in 2021 but excluded Gibraltar due to its unique status. Previous negotiations on the territory’s border status had made halting progress over three and a half years. The new framework aims to provide economic certainty for the 15,000 daily cross-border workers, more than half of whom are employed in Gibraltar, following a 2016 referendum where 96 percent of voters on the Rock supported remaining in the bloc.
While the land border is now open to residents, entry and exit checks at Gibraltar’s airport and port will continue. These checks will be conducted jointly by British and Spanish officials, a model similar to that used at Eurostar stations in London and Paris. This joint operation replaces the previous system where travellers faced two separate border checks, which often caused significant delays and queues.
Travellers from outside the Schengen area, including those from the UK, must now use the EU Entry/Exit System. Rolled out in Europe in April, this system collects biometric data, including photographs and digital fingerprints, replacing the traditional passport stamp process. Gibraltar remains the only one of Britain’s 14 overseas territories to secure such a deal, primarily due to its shared land border with the EU.
