UK and Spain hold Gibraltar talks

Britain gained possession of Gibraltar in 1704

MADRID, Spain -- Britain and Spain have agreed a joint sovereignty deal for Gibraltar, a Spanish newspaper has reported.

The Spanish daily newspaper El Pais said Gibraltar's Chief Minister Peter Caruana was told by British Foreign Minister Jack Straw on January 25 that Britain intended to negotiate a joint declaration of principles with Spain.

Spain and Britain are due to resume talks over Gibraltar on Monday.

James Bevan is the UK Foreign Office's director for Gibraltar and its chief negotiator in the talks.

Asked by the paper if Straw told him then that the declaration would include joint sovereignty, Caruana said: "No, Bevan told me."

He added: "It is now clear that what they are proposing is that Britain and Spain agree a declaration of principles in which their joint positions are written, including a concrete commitment by Britain on joint sovereignty."

Caruana plans to boycott the talks because the colony has not been granted a separate delegation.

Britain has promised not to cede sovereignty of the rock at the southern tip of Spain without the inhabitants' consent.

Most of Gibraltar's 30,000 people oppose ceding control to Spain.

British officials say sovereignty is on the agenda but have given no details of the blueprint under discussion with Madrid.

"Sovereignty has been on the agenda of discussions since the start of the Brussels process in 1984," a Foreign Office spokesman told Reuters.

"The United Kingdom stands firmly by the commitments...that we will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes."

Britain gained possession in 1704 and later won formal control in the Treaty of Utrecht, which granted Spain first right to reclaim Gibraltar if its status changed.

Monday's talks are part of the "Brussels process," a series of meetings begun between Britain and Spain in 1984 to discuss various aspects of Gibraltar.