SPAIN-UK: GIBRALTAR VISIT BY UK NUCLEAR SUB

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