Context: Spain has struck a deal with the UK to maintain free movement to and from Gibraltar .

• Gibraltar, being a strategic area, has been the subject of intense dispute between Spain and Britain for centuries.

The status of Gibraltar

• Gibraltar is a small portion of land on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula that Britain controls but Spain claims as its own.
• It is connected to Spain by a small strip of land and surrounded by sea on three sides.
• It is the only opening from the Atlantic Ocean into the Mediterranean Sea, making it a key location on the shortest sea route between Europe and Asia via the Suez Canal.
• Gibraltar fell into British hands after a war in 1713, and has since remained with Britain despite several attempts by Spain to retake it.
• When Britain joined the EU in 1973, Gibraltar was a “crown colony”, but was reclassified as a British Overseas Territory in 2002.
• Currently, the territory is self-governing in all aspects, except for defence and foreign policy, which are managed by London, and Gibraltarians have British citizenship.

Spain-UK post-Brexit deal

• Free movement of vessels will now continue, as Gibraltar is being placed in the Schengen area, with Spain acting as a guarantor.
• The Schengen passport-free zone includes 22 countries from the EU, and four others –Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The UK has never been a part of this zone.
• The EU will now place Frontex border guards for the next four years to ensure free movement to and from Gibraltar, and the territory’s port and airport would become the external borders of the Schengen area.
• Although the deal covers free movement, it does not address the sovereignty dispute between Spain and the UK.
• Britain has called the deal a “political framework” for a separate treaty that it wants to sign with the EU concerning Gibraltar.