Luxembourg - A dispute between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar is threatening to delay a major reform of NATO's structure, Patrick Smyth reports.
After meeting yesterday on the fringes of the European jobs summit with his British counterpart, Mr Robin Cook, the Spanish Foreign Minister, Mr Abel Matutes, accused Britain of threatening to block the entire NATO reform over their bilateral dispute on Gibraltar.
At the meeting, Mr Matutes presented Mr Cook with new proposals to share the use of the colony's airport and air traffic control system. The proposal would also involve the deployment of some Spanish troops at the airport.
The British rejected the proposal out of hand, saying it raised serious sovereignty issues. They countered by demanding that Spain end its practise of refusing overflight permission to planes using Gibraltar or the use of their ports to ships en route to or from the colony.
British sources were adamant there could be no question of accepting Spain into full membership of NATO's political command structures while Spain was refusing a partner country such facilities. Reform of those structures to bring in the Spanish and give a role to countries in central and eastern Europe is now in jeopardy as the British can only block the whole package.