Gibraltar and the European Parliament Elections before the European Court of Justice

Abstract

The judgment under study (ECJ - judgment of September 12, 2006, Spain/United Kingdom, C-145/04) concerns the controversy between Spain and the United Kingdom on the sovereignty of Gibraltar and affects the legal status of Gibraltar in the European Union. The point of departure for this study stems from the adoption by the United Kingdom of the European Parliament (Representation) Act –EPRA 2003, in order to comply with the judgment of the ECHR in the case of Matthews vs UK, 1999. Spain points out that its action covers solely elections as they are held in Gibraltar and not the United Kingdom’s recognition of the right to the so-called Qualifying Commonwealth Citizens (QCCs) residing in its territory to vote for the European Parliament. The ECJ dismissed the action of Spain. In our opinion, a Spanish argument focused on the limitations of the annex I of the Act concerning the election of the representatives of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage (1976) would have been able to direct the arguments of the parties and the foundations of the ECJ to a different ending.