Spain to lift Gibraltar flight ban in landmark deal

CORDOBA, Spain, Sep 18 (Reuters) Spain will lift a ban on flights to Gibraltar under a landmark deal today, reached after negotiators agreed to leave to one side 300 years of bitter disputes over the British territory's sovereignty.

In the first ever meeting to include a separate Gibraltar delegation as well as NATO allies Britain and Spain, London also agreed to pay a pension top-up for Spaniards who used to work on the Rock and on easing traffic across the border.

''This is a very significant step in history,'' Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told a news conference in the city of Cordoba after the meeting.

''The agreements should benefit Gibraltar and the areas nearby, which have been harmed by an historic argument.'' Currently, Gibraltar airport, which is operated by Britain's Royal Air Force, receives commercial flights from Britain, but Spain has not allowed flights from or to its territory.

The pension pay-out will resolve a hangover from 1969, when then Spanish dictator Francisco Franco closed the border and pulled Spanish workers out of the territory which he wanted returned from Britain.

The border opened fully in 1985. Relations improved further after the Socialists came to power in Spain in 2004 and agreed to talk about ways to boost the economy on the Spanish side of the border without addressing the issue of Madrid's continuing claim to sovereignty.

Spain ceded control of Gibraltar to Britain in 1713 but ever since, it has been fighting to regain the strategic spur that sits at the entrance to the Mediterranean and which played a key role in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and World War Two.

PENSION PAYMENTS Britain will now pay 6,200 euros (7,845 dollars) to each of the pensioners, who missed out on years of social security contributions, and adjust their pensions for inflation.

''There was a wrong that needed to be put right,'' said Geoff Hoon, Britain's minister for Europe.

The expansion of Gibraltar's airport will be one of the biggest boons for the Spanish side of the border, which is underdeveloped in comparison to the rest of the Costa del Sol.

A new terminal will have entrances on both side of the border so passengers and cargo travelling to and from Spain can bypass Gibraltar controls and taxes.

The terminal, which will be run by a Spanish-Gibraltar company, should be ready in less than two years, the parties said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Spain will recognise Gibraltar's international dialling code and allow roaming agreements with the territory so telecoms will become easier and cheaper. It will also open a cultural institute in Gibraltar.

Britain and Spain once looked at sharing sovereignty of the Rock, home to 28,000 people. But in 2002, 99 percent of them voted against the move, demanding to remain part of Britain.

The ministers said they would meet again in a few months to check on progress of today's agreements and start discussing other issues like the environment, education and trade.

''We are still a long way short of cooperating as European Union neighbours do,'' said Gibraltar's Chief Minister Peter Caruana. ''There is still a huge amount of work to be done.'' REUTERS PR VC2342