Cabinet Gives Green Light to Treaty Ratification - 23/2026

The Gibraltar Cabinet has approved the text of the treaty between the UK and the EU on the future relationship of Gibraltar with the European Union.

The Cabinet has considered a version of the text which had not yet been subjected to a legal scrub. It is considered unlikely that there will be any political changes during that legal process.

The Cabinet was taken through the different sections of the treaty and associated documents by the Attorney General Michael Llamas during six lengthy meetings over the last two weeks. It is also worth recalling that both the existing Cabinet and the previous one have been closely consulted throughout the negotiating process over a number of years.

The Attorney General has led on the detailed, technical areas of the treaty negotiation and the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister have led the negotiation politically.

The Gibraltar Cabinet has now approved the treaty for ratification subject to there being no changes to the meaning of the text approved during the legal scrub.

Once the final text emerges, this will be taken to the Gibraltar Parliament on an amendable Motion for debate. The approval of the Gibraltar Parliament will be the signal to the United Kingdom to continue with its own procedures to ratify the treaty.

The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo KC MP said:

"I am delighted that the Cabinet has given the green light to the ratification of the treaty. There will be a full debate in the Gibraltar Parliament. The Cabinet held six lengthy sessions, each over 3 hours, to comprehensively go through the letter of the text. Ministers were already aware of all the issues in the Treaty, as the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister have been briefing and updating the Cabinet regularly on all issues."

ENDS