New Airport aggreement
PaulusAr
have the stupid situation where a spaniard flying from Madrid to La
Linea is on an internal flight and does not go through any passport or
ID card control. Meanwhile a Briton flying from Gibraltar to London, or
vice versa, is on an international flight and must go through Customs
and immigration when he gets to London or Gibraltar.
Also of note is that flights from Britain to the Channel Islands, which
are not in the EU are internal flights. Why does the British government
still treat us like "wogs" in this respect?
Jimmy@jock.net JimmyGibby
"PaulusAr" <paul...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1159192862.7...@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com...
Madrid and La Linea are in the same passport and customs regime. Gibraltar
and Britain are not.
Jim Watt
Well; firstly a Brit flying from Madrid to La Linea also does
not have to produce a travel document so there is no discimination.
Britain decided that for its own security reasons not to be part
of the schengen agreement.
Finally there needs to be customs controls in place until such time
as Gibraltr joins the customs union and applies VAT and there are
no plans.
--
Jim Watt
http://www.gibnet.com
Dave {Reply Address In.sig}
Jersey, although that was a long time ago now.
--
Dave
mail da v...@llondel.org (without the space)
http://www.llondel.org
So many gadgets, so little time
Ken
Because we don't vote for representation at Westminster. Have you noticed
how wooed we are for the EU elections where, though small in number, thanks
to the apathy of the UK voter we hold sway as to who represents UK South
West and Gibraltar?
K
Ken
"Jim Watt" <jim...@aol.no_way> wrote in message
news:m05gh2prg0lo2b6ph...@4ax.com...
> On 25 Sep 2006 07:01:02 -0700, "PaulusAr" <paul...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>>Once the new airport aggreement, which I support, is in place, we will
>>have the stupid situation where a spaniard flying from Madrid to La
>>Linea is on an internal flight and does not go through any passport or
>>ID card control. Meanwhile a Briton flying from Gibraltar to London, or
>>vice versa, is on an international flight and must go through Customs
>>and immigration when he gets to London or Gibraltar.
>>
>>Also of note is that flights from Britain to the Channel Islands, which
>>are not in the EU are internal flights. Why does the British government
>>still treat us like "wogs" in this respect?
All that is happening is that for someone flying Gib to Madrid, entry to
Schengen is cleared BEFORE departure rather than on arrival. As to the
passenger Madrid - la Linea not being cleared, it is a courtesy extended to
Spain by Gib (which can be withdrawn BTW - read the agreement) AS LONG AS
the passenger DOES NOT enter Gib beyond passport control - they have to
agree to go straight to Spain, and as such are treated as one would cargo in
transit. In the same way that a container parked at Rotterdam en route
between Singapore and Harwich is not messed about by the Dutch authorities,
neither does Gib mess about with a passenger ultimately destined for Spain
landing in Gib FROM a Spanish airport.
That a UK person coming to Gib, or a Giblet going to the UK passes through
customs and passport control is VERY GOOD FOR GIB because it demostrates the
separateness of the jurisdictions, that Gib is not part of the UK, that Gib
does not have to participate in the same taxation regime as the UK (which is
very beneficial for us indeed!)
>
> Well; firstly a Brit flying from Madrid to La Linea also does
> not have to produce a travel document so there is no discimination.
>
> Britain decided that for its own security reasons not to be part
> of the schengen agreement.
Which is curious of course. The UK decides to keep out of Schengen in order
ostensibly to have full control of her borders, fearing an influx of people
from all over the UK. Then when we had the latest expansion of the EU, the
UK uniquely decided (unlike Schengen!) NOT to impose temporary immigration
orders, the upshot of which is that in the yaer or so since Poland joined,
there have been around 300,000 Poles come in to the UK, and 1:10 of the
population of Southampton is Polish! BTW I have yet to meet ONE unsavoury
Pole - I know loads and they're all great folk, I just use this to point out
the UK's self-contradictory stances.
>
> Finally there needs to be customs controls in place until such time
> as Gibraltr joins the customs union and applies VAT and there are
> no plans.
Ah well, am I the only one to have spotted a contradiction here?
When Pepe Fulano goes from Gib to La Linea, he (eventually, one supposes)
will have a green and a red channel to go through. He can be searched and he
will have limits as to what goods and in what quantities can be imported to
Spain in a duty-free allowance.
However when his cousin Pepe Mengano flies from Gib to Barcelona, he gains
clearance from Sp immigration officer on the other side of a pane of glass
to enter Schengen. This officer cannot in fact stop him from boarding. Now,
in his luggage Pepe can carry 5000 cigarettes if he wants to. On landing at
Barcelona, deemed to have arrived on an internal flight, there are NO
passport controls OR customs checks.
It appears that in their zeal to have flights TO and FROM Gib to anywhere in
Spain treated as internal flights, the Sp authorities have forfeited their
border rights. INdeed, the arrangement may well be illegal in that, as PC
noted, Spain has AN OBLIGATION given that Gib is NOT in the EU Customs Area
to exert controls at her border. If it were a case of her borders and her
borders alone, fair enough - but once in Spain free access is gained to the
whole of the EU and the customs area! This is an anomaly the size of a
double-decker bus!
I propose something else. Abandon the separate entrance in the teminal
building wall that leads straight into La Linea. Let anyone coming to Gib
from Spain to use the airport do exactly the same manoeuvring assomeone from
Gib going to Malaga to use the airport there. Spain retains all controls,
there are NO anomalies, there are NO cointradictions and NOTHING is illegal.
Once Gib joins Schengen and the Customs Union, then we can re-open that door
perhaps - and this from someone who supprts the agreement as it stands!
Ken