New Constitution Could Face Bumpy Ride

 Gibraltar's electoral system and processes of government will change radically under the terms of the new “modern” constitution that will be put before the Rock's electorate in a referendum that will be held “sooner, rather than later,” according to Chief Minister Peter Caruana. Sources close to Number 6 expect that Gibraltarians will be asked to cast their votes for or against the new constitution  and the new relationship between Britain and the Rock which it defines,  towards the end of May.

Though fine print of the proposed new constitution is still to be put before the joint constitutional committee and will not be spelled out until then, probably some time next week, statements issued concurrently on Monday by both the Chief Minister and Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jack Straw confirmed some of the details revealed by VOX last week.

The Chief Minister's statement pointed to “agreement on wide-ranging reform and modernisation of the Gibraltar Constitution which provided for a modern relationship between Gibraltar and the UK” and did not in any way “diminish British Sovereignty of and support for Gibraltar”.

“Indeed, the Sovereignty preamble in the 1969 Constitution Order will be replicated in the new Constitution Order,” Caruana a told a Press conference at No 6 on Monday.  “The UK will retain international responsibility for Gibraltar, including its external relations and defence, and as the Member State responsible for Gibraltar in the European Union. Thus the close constitutional links with the UK and enduring British Sovereignty are, in accordance with the wishes of the people of Gibraltar, enshrined in the new Constitution”.

This confirmed the right of the people of Gibraltar to self-determination, which ”must be promoted in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and any other applicable international treaties”.

However, though Britain supported this right, it held the view that it was constrained by the Treaty of Utrecht, and thus independence would only be an option with Spain’s consent. This was a view Gibraltar did not share and “Gibraltar's acceptance of this Constitution would be on that basis”,  Caruana said.

“However, this is the first time that Gibraltar's right to self-determination, so constrained, is reflected in its Constitution,” he added.

Among the 14 major changes provided by the new constitution are curtailment's of the Governor's role and powers, the transfer of the bulk of responsibilities for policing to a statutory Gibraltar Police Authority, a new Commission which will advise on judicial appointments and the “restyling” of the House of Assembly as the Gibraltar Parliament which will be empowered to determine its own size.

As we reported in last week's VOX, the offices of Deputy Governor and of the Financial and Development Secretary are abolished as constitutional offices and the Financial Secretary and Attorney General will no longer be members of the House.

Provisions for the new Parliament include a formula that will cap the number of ministers  thus, in effect, creating a Government “back bench” and, presumably, allowing an expanded representation of political parties that could allow “minority” voices to be heard for the first time.

“The whole idea of making the Parliament bigger would be that there could be a viable government size, a viable opposition but also a viable back bench on the Government side,”  Caruana told reporters. Provisions for the enlargement of Parliament would require more than a simple majority vote by the elected members, he added. This would ensure cross-party consensus and prevent government from increasing parliamentary numbers to its own advantage.

“This is a good outcome which maximizes our self-government, while preserving our British Sovereignty and constitutional links with Britain,” a clearly delighted and confident  Caruana concluded his formal statement. “Everyone in the Gibraltar delegation regards this as a good constitutional text. It provides for a modern relationship between the UK and Gibraltar”.

But not everyone DOES agree that it is a “good” text  and though the Chief Minister dismisses as “mere semantics” and nit-picking, Opposition objections to what it sees as a retention of colonialism and its threats to urge “no” vote in the forthcoming referendum  the waters have also been muddied by a letter to Straw from Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos, in which Spain not only restated its traditional position of the Rock's sovereignty but also dragged the corpse of the Brussels Agreement back into the verbal field of play.

Not surprisingly the Chief Minister reacted vigorously damning the Moratinos letter as  “inaccurate and incorrect in several material respects”. It failed to “realistically reflect the position and therefore requires clarification by the Foreign Secretary and the Government will await events” a statement issued by No 6 stated on Wednesday.

Straw has proved in the past that his deviousness  masquerading as diplomacy  knows few bounds so it could be a long wait.