Constitutional Review Select Committee

The Government and the Opposition have agreed a way forward in respect of the Constitutional Review Select Committee of Parliament.

As a result, the Leader of the Opposition has agreed to nominate two members to the Select Committee. The names of the five Members of the Select Committee will be put to Parliament in a Motion agreed by the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

The respective positions of the Government and of the Opposition on this matter are well known and the arguments were rehearsed during the recent debate on the Motion in Parliament.

The Government is committed to a review by the Select Committee of the 2006 Constitution which may or may not result in a proposal to reform parts of the Constitution but which will seek to further the process for Gibraltar to be removed from the list of non-self-governing territories maintained by the United Nations.

The participation of the Opposition is on the understanding that the Government is not seeking to redefine Gibraltar’s relationship with the United Kingdom and will be without prejudice to their position that the 2006 Constitution provides Gibraltar with the maximum level of self-government short of independence and the relationship between Gibraltar and the United Kingdom is not one based on colonialism.

It is now clear, given the parliamentary timetable which includes the Budget, that the work of the Select Committee will not begin in earnest until after the summer and therefore after the Referendum to be held on the 23rd June this year on the UK and Gibraltar's continued membership of the European Union. The Select Committee will however be constituted and its technical advisers will start to compile the documentation required in order to commence work after the summer recess.