Gibraltar border fence removed after EU-UK treaty eases post-Brexit travel

Madrid,UPDATED: Jul 15, 2026 04:26 IST

Thousands of people who travel every day between southern Spain and Gibraltar will no longer have to cross a physical border from Wednesday, after a border fence was fully removed at midnight. The move follows a European Union-UK treaty signed on Tuesday, ending years of post-Brexit wrangling over how people and goods would move in and out of the British Overseas Territory.

The agreement is expected to ease daily life for Gibraltar's 38,000 residents and for around 15,000 Spaniards who cross the frontier for work, making up almost half of the territory's workforce. It also aims to protect Gibraltar's economy and allow smoother travel for families and visitors on both sides of the border.

When Britain left the EU in 2020, Gibraltar's relationship with the bloc had been left unresolved. Talks on a deal had moved slowly for years, but in 2025 the EU and the UK announced an agreement on border issues, with Gibraltar's government joining both sides in signing the treaty on Tuesday. UK's Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty said the agreement secured Gibraltar's long-term economic future and interests.

EU trade representative Maro efcovic also welcomed the deal. "It has taken four years of patient, complex negotiation, but the outcome speaks for itself," efcovic said. "It is a very special feeling to see a fence come down." Without an agreement, Gibraltar could have faced a hard land border with full passport checks, creating economic risks and affecting leisure visits across the frontier.

Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said the change would make everyday travel easier for families and children. "People who are visiting family in Spain, or whose Spanish family is visiting them in Gibraltar. Children who are going to football matches and extracurricular activities, either in Spain or in Gibraltar. They will be able to do that without having to worry about frontier queues," he told The Associated Press in an interview.

Under the deal, Gibraltar in effect joins the EU's Schengen free travel area. At Gibraltar's airport and port, entry and exit checks will be carried out by both UK and Spanish border officials, in an arrangement similar to the one at Eurostar stations in London and Paris. Travellers arriving in Gibraltar from countries outside the Schengen area will also have to go through the EU Entry-Exit System, which was rolled out in Europe in April and replaced passport stamps with biometric checks using photographs and digital fingerprints.

With the fence gone, Gibraltar authorities have installed live facial recognition cameras at entry points and across the territory. Picardo said Gibraltar would have many more CCTV cameras and had also increased its police presence and resources for customs and Coast Guard agencies. "The fortress has become a digital fortress now," he said.

In the 2016 Brexit referendum, 96 per cent of voters in Gibraltar, also known as the Rock, backed remaining in the EU. Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713, and Spain has continued to claim sovereignty over it. While the new treaty removes the border fence and eases movement, it does not settle the territory's disputed status.

With PTI Inputs

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