US embassy cable - 04MADRID2627

UNCLAS MADRID 002627 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, SP 
SUBJECT: SPAIN-UK: GIBRALTAR VISIT BY UK NUCLEAR SUB 
STRAINS RELATIONS 
 
1. (U) The visit by the British nuclear submarine HMS 
Tireless to Gibraltar has provoked acute tension within the 
GOS towards Britain.  The HMS Tireless, which arrived the 
morning of July 9, originally sparked controversy in May 2000 
when it docked at Gibraltar for repairs after developing a 
crack in the cooling system of its reactor and leaking a 
small quantity of contaminated water into the Mediterranean. 
 
2.  (U) Press accounts in Spain quote the British government 
as saying that the current visit is routine and planned to 
last 4 to 6 days.  The British Foreign Office is further 
quoted in the Spanish press as stating that "the HMS 
Tireless, like any other Royal Navy ship, is entitled to use 
Gibraltar port facilities". 
 
3. (U) The visit, however, has apparently been anything but 
routine on the Spanish side.  Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel 
Angel Moratinos called the visit an "unacceptable 
provocation" and "unfriendly act" and said that it is the 
latest in a series of "unfriendly" British acts since the new 
Socialist government took power in April.  Spain had 
protested in June the attendance of Britain's Princess Anne 
at ceremonies marking the 300th anniversary of the capture of 
Gibraltar by an Anglo-Dutch force.  Reports say that the GOS 
summoned the British Ambassador in Madrid, Stephen Wright, to 
the MFA twice in the last week to protest the visit of the 
HMS Tireless, with MFA State Secretary Bernadino Leon using 
the latest visit to convey the "displeasure and profound ill 
feeling of the Spanish government given the lack of British 
sensitivity toward Spanish public opinion". 
 
4. (U) While the MFA did state that Spain will continue to 
consider the United Kingdom a friend and ally, it will 
"evaluate and examine" recent British actions and consider 
what the "impacts on our relations with Great Britain will be 
if we continue to see that it does not heed the requests of a 
friendly country".  The Spanish Socialist Party's Secretary 
for International Affairs, Trinidad Jimenez, is quoted as 
reminding "the friendly government of the United Kingdom, 
that is should take good care of the bilateral relationship" 
because "nothing is free in diplomacy". 
 
5. (U) Smaller political parties in Spain also indicated 
their displeasure at the visit and called for various actions 
in response.  The Andalusian Party (PA) called for a revision 
of Andalusia's Autonomous Province Statute to include an 
explicit reference to Gibraltar as "Andalusian territory" and 
calling for Gibraltar to be declared a non-nuclear zone.  The 
United Left (Communist) Party also presented measures in 
parliament proposing that the entire Mediterranean be 
declared a non-nuclear zone and calling on the Spanish 
government to declare if it has an "Emergency Plan" in place 
in case of nuclear accidents in Gibraltar. 
 
6. (U) Moratinos is expected to meet with British Foreign 
Secretary Jack Straw on July 12 to discuss Gibraltar while 
 
SIPDIS 
both are in Brussels for the July 12-13 GAERC meetings.  He 
reportedly will use the opportunity to not only express 
Spanish disapproval of the HMS Tireless visit, but to also 
press for restarting discussions on the future of Gibraltar's 
sovereignty. 
MANZANARES