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"When Gibraltar sneezes, The Line catches a cold . " The phrase is from Juan Franco, mayor of the Linense municipality that borders the Rock and whose economic dependence on the Rock, like it or not, is evident.

The Brexit, already official although with a transition period of one year, can be assumed, but is well managed and measures are taken that benefit the Campo de Gibraltar but mainly the neighbor of the colony, the flu for the Spanish city. Of the thousands of cross-border workers who cross the gate daily, around 10,000, the majority are Linens. It is not a trivial fact for a city of about 70,000 inhabitants and with an unemployment rate above 20% .

To this we must add the consumption that the llanitos (residents of Gibraltar) do in the town, without forgetting the business, social and all kinds of relationships that remain outside the eternal dispute over the sovereignty of the Rock .

The reactions, on a day as marked as January 31, come from all segments of society, although there are two aspects that are repeated over and over again. On the one hand the message of relative calm , for the scenario that opens of transition, and for another uncertainty and many doubts to face something unknown. Although many political leaders speak of an opportunity for southern Andalusia to finally have the attention it has been demanding for years, others point out that it may be little less than the final thrust, mainly for La Línea.

Juan Franco, the man who achieved 21 of the 24 councilors who sit in the plenary with the independent lineup 100x100, has tired of warning that the coconut was coming, but neither the socialist regional government nor the nationals of one or another color they have taken real measures to alleviate a situation that can be a fatal lunge for the locality .

"We have been claiming and hitting on all doors for three years, but the reality is that little or nothing has been done," Franco says. The impact of the exit of the EU colony is being noticed in the day-to-day life of the city since 2016 , the date of the referendum. "The pound has plummeted 16% and the association of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, 18 million euros per year, has stopped circulating in the city."

And it is that in La Línea there is some tiredness of the historical abuse to which they have been subjected both when the gate was closed and with its subsequent opening. So much so, that Franco has initiated the procedures to carry out a popular consultation that determines whether the city becomes an autonomous city in the style of Ceuta or Melilla, but with the specifications of being the only land border in Europe with a colony .

"We are not talking about independence or anything like that, what we request is a differentiated legal regime to face a problem that nobody else has in Spain." That is why it also points to the possibility of providing the municipality with a special tax regime or declaring it an area of ​​special singularity , by the Executive of the nation.

Contingency plan

Meanwhile, the Junta de Andalucía, now governed by the PP and Citizens, has put into operation a contingency plan that includes 112 measures, mostly for the Algeciras Bay arch and especially for La Línea.

However, and despite the fact that the vice president, Juan Marín, says they are all underway, the unions do not see it that way. From CCOO, the regional secretary, Manuel Triano, regrets that the aforementioned document "does not contemplate a single specific measure for Spanish workers in Gibraltar." The request, he underlines, is not free. " More than 15% of the population of Campo de Gibraltar work in the Rock , a significant fact is that there are more people employed there than in the Association of Large Industries (AGI)."

Employees, many of them grouped in the Socio-Cultural Association of Spanish Workers in Gibraltar (Ascteg), fears the worst as of 2021 . Juan José Uceda, his spokesman, remembers that it is already four years "warning of the tsunami that was coming to us and it is already here". He points out that "there is a lot of uncertainty, anguish and there are even people who have lost their jobs."

A statement that contrasts with the message that has been released in the last hours by the main minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, who has met with the leader of Adelante Andalucía, Teresa Rodríguez, at number 6 of Convent Place, headquarters of the Gibraltarian government. "The Spaniards who work here are not going to lose their place for Brexit . "

The main minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, poses in his office.

The leader of the GSLP, which tonight will lower the EU flag and raise the Commonwealth flag to the sound of the famous 'God Save The Queen', ensures that he and his neighbors "will always remain part of Europe and I will feel European. I hope that Gibraltar is a symbol and that the United Kingdom will never leave Europe because we will always remain a member of that family. "

The ceremony will not be festive . So much so that the Gibraltarian Executive has asked his neighbors not to go to the border when it is twelve o'clock at night. Previously, Picardo will appear on the GBC, the public television, to give a message to the community. In it he will remember, among other aspects, that residents in the Rock voted, in June 2016, overwhelmingly (96%) for the permanence in the European Union, however this has not prevented them from being outside, beyond the transition period that starts now.

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  • Gibraltar
  • European Union
  • United Kingdom
  • Teresa Rodriguez
  • Juan Marin
  • CCOO
  • Andalusia
  • Brexit

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