FOLLOWING a day of meetings with various influential members of the European Commission and European Parliament on July 12, Chief Minister Picardo and Deputy Chief Minister Garcia returned to London for equally important meetings the following day.
In the morning of July 13, they welcomed Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her team to Gibraltar House where, augmented by both the Attorney General Michael Llamas and UK representative Dominique Searle, they furthered their earlier discussions on the matter of the UK leaving the European Union.
It was agreed that technical teams would continue their work to explore further the potential commonality of interests between Scotland and Gibraltar. All the options would need to be explored in that process.
Then the two politicians from Gibraltar moved to the House of Commons where they met with new Prime Minister Theresa May for 20 minutes prior to her short journey to Buckingham Palace to formally accept the role.
The Chief Minister said: “We have had an excellent early opportunity to meet the new Prime Minister and to put to her Gibraltar’s concerns and the economic issues that arise after the EU Referendum.
“We also discussed some of the rhetoric we are hearing coming from the care-taker Foreign Minister of Spain and the free movement issues that can arise at our frontier. I am very grateful to the Prime Minister that she allowed us time today on the very day of her appointment, demonstrating her understanding of the importance of the Brexit issue to Gibraltar and the depth of our concerns.
“Theresa May will no doubt be someone we can work with effectively as we seek to shape our future relationship with the EU in the manner that is most beneficial to Gibraltar and the wishes of the Gibraltarians as expressed so clearly in the Referendum result.”
