![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-03-17-at-19.10.18-1.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nThe UK\/EU treaty on Gibraltar is \u201ca very important milestone\u201d that will strengthen the bilateral relationship between the UK and Spain, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Sanchez was speaking during a wide-ranging interview on The Rest is Politics, the popular podcast hosted by former Conservative MP Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair\u2019s former press\u00a0spokesman\u00a0while in government.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The reference to Gibraltar was brief and came, unsolicited, during a broader conversation on the impact of Brexit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there were, like, three Labour governments – in Gibraltar, in Spain and in Britain – and thanks to, I think, generosity, responsibility and, of course, thinking about people in Gibraltar and in Campo de Gibraltar, we managed to reach a very important agreement,\u201d Mr Sanchez said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo\u00a0I think that this was a very important milestone in order to scale up and strengthening our bilateral cooperation with the UK.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Sanchez said there was \u201ca clear alignment\u201d in global politics between the UK and the EU, adding that he believed Britain should revisit the question of its \u201cobvious\u201d economic and political future in the wake of Brexit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that is a big question mark that the British should answer,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to keep that alliance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBrexit was a terrible loss, not only for the British, but also for the European Union.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have also lost one of our major, let’s say, political actors when it comes to international politics and welfare of the European Union as a whole.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Sanchez said he saw no other path than for the UK and the EU to strengthen their cooperation and that he hoped to one day have the UK return to the bloc, adding that he believed the UK and the EU shared the same destiny, whether \u201cas a member of the European Union or not\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Sanchez acknowledged that, for the UK, reopening the Brexit debate would polarise citizens and was thus \u201ca very difficult debate to face\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut again, it’s a question of framework, you know, how Britain could win more sovereignty,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd in my opinion, you don’t win more sovereignty when you are out of a bigger political project.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our case, of course, the European Union.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, imagine Spain out of the European Union.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be a disaster.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The interview was broadcast as the UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly met in Brussels to discuss the UK\/EU relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The assembly was\u00a0established\u00a0under the terms of the 2021 Trade and Cooperation Agreement and acts as a forum for parliamentarians to exchange views on the implementation and operation of the agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe relationship between the EU and the UK is not an abstract political topic for many, also for me,\u201d said European Parliament vice president Katarina Barley, addressing the plenary session of the meeting on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is something that reflects the reality of millions of people whose lives, families, studies and work cross borders.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why, obviously, the moment we are in now is an important one.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor much of the past decade, the conversation between the European Union and the United Kingdom has been shaped by the process of separation.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we are now at a stage where we can look beyond that period and focus more clearly on what comes next.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause the reality is simple.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur security, our prosperity and our democratic values remain closely intertwined.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRussia’s war against Ukraine has reminded us in the stark possible terms that peace and security in Europe cannot be taken for granted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The sentiment was echoed by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the UK Minister for EU relations, who reflected on the work carried out on implementing the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and\u00a0subsequent\u00a0efforts to strengthen the UK\/EU strategic partnership in areas such as defence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Thomas-Symonds underlined the importance of that relationship, \u201c… not least in needing to collectively work together against the reckless attacks from Iran that are threatening our civilians and service personnel across the region.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if ever there was a sign that we live in a more complex world and that close cooperation across Europe is vital to our shared security, then it is this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK\/EU treaty on Gibraltar is \u201ca very important milestone\u201d that will strengthen the bilateral relationship between the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":832936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-832935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116247543535101769","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}