http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23567976

Let's apply their own fee to flights to Spain and kill their tourist industry overnight.

Would they be able to impose fees without breaching EU rules on freedom of movement?

I don't think Gibraltar is part of the EU is it?

To quote wikipedia..



They're part of the EU. EU citizens have a right to freedom of movement across the border. Spain would have to back down if pushed, as I can't see them wanting to pick a fight with the EU council right now.

I'm pretty sure the Falklands aren't part of the EU.

That would be pretty nonsensical yes. But it would be interesting to see if a Falklands resident could force the UK government to apply EU rulings to them as British citizens.

It could be viewed as the same as the airline tax. That is a tax on travel.

I'm sure they would argue that. The counter-argument being that a charge of such size is a defacto block, stopping those who (for example) live in Gibraltar but work in Spain or vice versa from doing so. The EU won't want to allow this through because if they do, every other cash-strapped EU state (e.g. Greece, Italy etc) will immediately follow suit in the hope of earning some much-needed funds. Imagine if Italy decided to charge 50 euros on everyone crossing it's Alpine border in the skiing season...

They can't let that floodgate open, it's that simple. If they do the free movement rules will be finished quite soon.

It also acts against the principle of freedom of movement of workers. The fact that air travel is a huge carbon emitter is not the same as walking across a border. I think that the airline tax should apply to the flight not the passenger. So high capacity flights will actually mean lower tax for the passenger. Walking or cycling across a border should not be taxed the same way.

It would be interesting to see how the charge, should it come in, will be administered. if it was a flat rate per vehicle, there'd be a fair profit to be made running 'park and ride' services into Gibraltar. The place is small enough you could probably walk pretty much anywhere there once you're through. Fifty Euros for a coachful... charge each passenger 2 euros per head each way you're probably making 40-60 euros per return trip in profit.

I suspect that this is basically the Spanish government trying to embargo Gibraltar, this is almost certainly for the domestic market. The economy is still deteriorating and they need to distract the electorate from domestic problems like the corruption scandal that currently is hitting the Spanish Prime Minister.

Some Spanish newspapers have been sying that - it takes away the press reporting on the real stories

TBH our government is just as bad in trying to hide bad news.

Gibraltar visit for Royal Navy warship is routine, says MoD

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23624715