Overview
- Spain’s José Manuel Albares and Gibraltar’s Fabián Picardo held their first bilateral meeting in Madrid on Wednesday to plan the EU–UK treaty’s provisional start on July 15.
- Messaging on when the land fence comes down now diverges, with the Gibraltar government saying removal will begin before July 15 and Picardo telling reporters it will not start until after that date.
- Albares traveled to the Campo de Gibraltar on Thursday to meet mayors and inspect works around the crossing as local leaders pressed for answers on jobs, pensions, customs and the port’s position.
- Under the plan, passport checks move to Gibraltar’s airport and port under Schengen rules run with Spain’s National Police, alongside shared airport use, an EU customs union and a new Gibraltar indirect tax similar to VAT.
- Gibraltar paused residency permits after about 3,000 applications in two months in 2025 and is finalizing stricter criteria as UK approval and a European Parliament vote still lie ahead.