The UK-EU Agreement in respect of Gibraltar: CELS Seminar

When the UK and the EU concluded the Trade and Cooperation Agreement at the end of 2020, Gibraltar was deliberately left outside its scope. After more than four years of negotiation between the UK, the EU and Spain, with the Government of Gibraltar advising the UK team, to agree the yet closest relationship of UK related territory with the EU. The negotiations benefited from a political agreement in June 2025, a finalised legal text in December 2025, and the draft Treaty jointly published by the UK and the EU on 26 February 2026. The Committee of Permanent Representatives unanimously greenlit the texts on 1 April 2026, and the Agreement is now expected to enter provisional application on 15 July 2026, with formal ratification under the UK Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 and the parallel EU procedures to follow.

The Treaty is genuinely novel in EU external relations practice. It will remove routine physical checks at the land frontier with Spain, with full Schengen border controls relocated to Gibraltar's airport and port and operated under a tailored, dual-control architecture. Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory that remains outside both the EU and Schengen, will simultaneously join the EU customs union and dynamically align with substantial parts of the EU acquis, including in goods, environment, energy, social and labour standards, transport and indirect taxation.

The CELS seminar examines the draft Treaty across three panels chaired by Professor Catherine Barnard with experts from both the University of Cambridge and beyond:

Panel I – Foundation: UK–EU Agreement in respect of Gibraltar

• “'The Constitutional Position of Gibraltar'”: Dr Jamie Trinidad, KC, Fellow, Lauterpacht Centre and Wolfson College, University of Cambridge
• “The Legal Debate in Spain about the Treaty”: Professor Alejandro del Valle Gálvez, Professor of International Law, University of Cadiz. Visiting Researcher - University of Manchester (13:05)
• “Free Movement of Person”: Professor Steve Peers, Professor of Law, Goldsmith University of London (25:13)
• “Dynamic Alignment in the EU-UK Gibraltar Agreement”: Professor Catherine Barnard, Director of CELS and Trinity College, University of Cambridge (45:45)

Panel II – General Regulation: UK–EU Gibraltar Agreement

• “Customs Union, Institutions and Comparisons with the EEA”: Professor Halvard Haukeland Fredriksen, Professor of Law, University of Bergen (1:11:52)
• “Human Rights”: Nabil Khabirpour, Member, CELS and Fellow, Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge (1:27:16)

Panel III – Specific Regulation: UK–EU Gibraltar Agreement

• “Financial Services”: Professor Eilís Ferran, Professor of Company & Securities Law at the University of Cambridge, Fellow of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI), Emeritus Fellow of St Catharine’s College & Provost of the Gates-Cambridge Trust (1:48:41)
• “Gambling”: Peter Montegriffo KC, Team Leader, Consultant, Hassans International Law Firm, Gibraltar (1:59:18)
• “Energy and Sustainable Development”: Professor Markus W. Gehring, Member, CELS & Fellow, Lauterpacht Centre and Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge (2:12:55)

For more information about CELS see: https://www.cels.law.cam.ac.uk/