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<p>We are confident of UK sovereignty over British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW)
under international law, a matter over which the European Commission has no locus
to intervene. As a result the the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs,
my right hon. Friend the Member for Aylesbury (Mr Lidington), the Minister responsible
for Europe, has not had any meetings with the EC in the last two years where the sole
purpose was discussing Spanish incursions into BGTW.</p><p>However, my right hon.
Friend has raised on a number of occasions, at a senior level in the European Commission,
the adoption by the European Commission of a proposal from the Spanish government
to designate a site of community importance (SCI) under the EU habitats directive
(92/43/EEC). The SCI in question overlaps virtually the whole BGTW area. Spain has
used this fact to justify certain incursions on the grounds that they are enacting
obligations in relation to EU environmental legislation.</p><p>The British Government
maintains that the purported site known as the Estrecho Oriental was unlawfully designated
and, in any event, cannot have any legal effect in BGTW due to UK sovereignty over
this territory. We have made our position on this clear to the European Commission
and the Spanish government.</p>
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