Britain and Spain yesterday set a deadline of summer 2002 to settle their long-standing dispute over Gibraltar with a comprehensive accord on the status of the British colony, but differences on key issues remained.
"Our aim is to conclude a comprehensive agreement by the summer of next year," the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, and his Spanish counterpart, Mr Josep Pique, said in a joint statement following talks in Barcelona.
"This overall agreement will cover all outstanding issues, including those on co-operation and sovereignty," the statement said. But no breakthrough seemed to have been reached yet on how any future change in sovereignty would be achieved.
While Madrid refuses to accept the right of the people of Gibraltar to veto any proposals on a change of the territory's status, London has repeatedly said Gibraltar will remain under British rule if proposed changes were to be rejected in a referendum.
Asked what Britain would do in case of a negative response to a future proposal, Mr Straw reaffirmed that London would not turn its back on the territory.
"If they do not share our views, then... Britain will continue to have the sovereignty of Gibraltar under the Treaty of Utrecht OF 1713with all the legal, political and moral obligations that goes with that," he said, referring to the 18th century treaty which marked the beginning of official British rule in the territory.
But speaking at a news conference after the talks, Mr Pique said the people of Gibraltar did not have the right to self-determination and warned that Madrid would never renounce regaining full sovereignty.
The Foreign Ministers, who met at the regional government building in Barcelona, also appealed to Gibraltar's chief minister, Mr Peter Caruana, to drop his boycott of the talks on the status of the peninsula.
"Gibraltar's voice should be heard," they said, adding that a fresh invitation was sent out to Mr Caruana to join in the process.
Mr Caruana is boycotting the talks because he wants Gibraltar to be treated as a legitimate third member of the negotiations, and to retain a veto over any agreement that might be reached.
"His role will be fully respected and he will have the opportunity to contribute fully to the discussions," the ministers said.
Gibraltar, a territory of some 30,000, has been under British rule since 1704. Under a 1984 agreement, London and Madrid promised to try to eliminate all their differences over Gibraltar.
Speaking on BBC radio before the start of the negotiations, Mr Straw had qualified as "irrelevant" a series of reports in the British press that suggested London was working behind the scenes to share sovereignty.
But a report yesterday in the Financial Times quoted a British official as saying that London may be prepared to change its policy on Gibraltar. "If Spain wants to have an office and fly a flag on Gibraltar, we will look at that," it quoted the unnamed official as saying.