Gibraltar boycotts Rock talks

Talks are resuming after a four-year break

MADRID, Spain -- Britain and Spain are set to resume talks on the future of Gibraltar on Tuesday, but without any representative from The Rock.

Britain's foreign minister Jack Straw and his Spanish counterpart Josep Pique will meet in Barcelona for a further round of discussions on the British colony after a four-year impasse.

But the Gibraltarians have refused to take a seat at the table after being offered only a consultant's role to the British delegation, rather than that of third party, which it had hoped for.

The last round of talks was in 1984 but they fell apart in 1997. Both Spain and Britain have frequently held up European Union legislation or forced Gibraltar to be excluded from community directives as part of their diplomatic battle.

Hopes of a deal to end the dispute between the two were raised when Britain's minister for Europe, Peter Hain, said last September that the "status quo of Gibraltar is not sustainable."

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Closer relations between the countries' prime ministers and a refocus on EU issues by the British government has seen a shift in attitude to Gibraltar.

Low-level talks between the two sides have been taking place during the past few months.

The latest talks, which are part of the most important round of discussions for the 30,000 inhabitants since 1978, aim to reach a deal agreeable to Spain as well as the people of Gibraltar who will have the final vote.

A target of December 2002 has been set to try to resolve the dispute.

But the move is strongly opposed by Gibraltans, who demand they decide their own future.

The Rock, at the southern tip of Spain, has been an issue of contention between Britain and Spain ever since the six-kilometre-square (2.2 square mile) peninsula was signed over as war booty in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.

The treaty gave Spain the first right to sovereignty should Gibraltar's status change.

Gibraltar is of strategic significance, being the gateway to the Mediterranean Sea and Africa.

It is home to a British military base, open for use by all NATO allies except Spain, with a deep-water port for nuclear submarines and an airstrip for fighter jets.

Gibraltar has its own locally-elected parliament but its foreign policy is run from London.

Britain and Spain recognise no serious progress on sovereignty can be made without Gibraltar at the table, so Tuesday's talks are expected to focus on the border, telecommunications and EU issues as steps towards a deal.