Rocky quid pro quo
From the Marques de Lendinez Sir: I must congratulate you on Simon Young's article (Hard rock', 1 December), in which he exposes the rank hypocrisy of the Spanish government's approach to Gibraltar as compared with Ceuta and Melilla.
What is surprising is that Manuel FragaIribarne, a founder of the Partido Popular and political mentor of the present Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, had a totally different view from the current Spanish government's position.
Manuel Fraga is very much the grand old man of Spanish politics, and last month, aged 78, he was re-elected president of Galicia. During his political career he has been General Franco's information minister and subsequently ambassador to the Court of St James's.
After Franco's death in 1975 he contested the subsequent election and published his manifesto Libro Blanco para la reforma democratica. In it he wrote (when Spain obtains the eventual retrocession of sovereignty over Gibraltar from the United Kingdom):
We believe that in the long term Spain will have no option other than to negotiate with Morocco a similar arrangement to that which has taken place over Gibraltar. However, the sovereignty of Ceuta and Melilla will remain Spanish until Gibraltar has been reintegrated into the Spanish state.
Simon Young rests his case. The Marques de Lendinez
Fleet, Hampshire
From Mr Simon Courtauld Sir: Before advancing his specious and muddled argument on the subject of Gibraltar, Simon Young should at least get his facts right.
His bizarre comment about the Falkland Islands and Canary Islands both being imperial possessions 'far from home' — one is a colony at the other end of the world, the other, a two-hour flight from Seville, has been part of Spain since the 15th century — may be passed over. But he twice states (the relevance of his point is less than clear) that Ceuta is only 50 kilometres from Gibraltar. In fact, the two promontories are less than half that distance apart; as Abyla and Calpe they were the Pillars of Hercules, and it is hardly surprising, even if objectionable to some British commentators, that Spain should want to hold on to one (in its possession for more than 400 years) and regain the other.
True, Spain ceded the Rock unconditionally to Britain in 1713, but that treaty, of Utrecht, also provided that no Jew or Moor should ever reside in Gibraltar. Sir Joshua Hassan, chief minister for most of the latter half of the 20th century, was both. Circumstances change; and now that Gibraltar, with Britain and Spain, is part of the European Union, an accommodation will have to be reached sooner or later.
Simon Courtauld
Pewsey, Wiltshire
From Mr Gabriel Rozenberg Sir: Spanish newsreaders, according to Simon Young, regularly announce: 'It is 12 o'clock and one o'clock in the Canaries.' As the Canary Islands are an hour behind Spain, this seems unlikely.
Gabriel Rozenberg
London W12
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