EU and UK sign Gibraltar treaty to dismantle border fence at midnight, closing last post-Brexit chapter
The EU and the United Kingdom signed the Gibraltar treaty in Brussels on Tuesday, and at midnight the century-old barrier between Spain and the Rock will be removed, ending passport checks at the land border and benefiting about 15,000 daily cross-border workers.
The signing ceremony
European Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic and UK Minister for Europe Stephen Doughty signed the treaty in the European Commission headquarters in Brussels on 14 July 2026. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares and Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo attended but did not sign the legal text, repeating the pattern of earlier political rounds where Spain accompanied the EU delegation and Gibraltar the UK side. The brief ceremony ended with no press statements, only a photograph of the four holding the signed document, which runs to 336 articles and several annexes totalling around one thousand pages.
It has taken four years of patient and complex negotiation, but the result speaks for itself: shared prosperity, closer cooperation and no more barriers for some 15,000 people who cross between Spain and Gibraltar every day.
What the treaty does at the border
From midnight on 14 July, all physical barriers to the movement of persons between Gibraltar and the Schengen area disappear. Spain assumes responsibility for Schengen border controls at the port and the airport of Gibraltar, while Gibraltar authorities will handle immigration and police checks. The dual-control model mirrors the arrangement French police operate at London's St. Pancras station for Eurostar. Systematic checks on goods are also lifted. The fence, standing for a century, is described by Albares as the last wall of continental Europe.
Today, from midnight tonight, the last wall of continental Europe will disappear. We are demonstrating that foreign policy serves to solve concrete problems of our citizens and that cooperation and coexistence are always more powerful than confrontation. We are turning around three centuries of confrontation.
Spain will use EU databases and manage short-stay visas when Gibraltar is the primary destination. The UK retains sovereignty over residence permits, but Spain may object within 28 days on security or public health grounds and can request withdrawal of a permit already granted if it sees a threat.
- United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union, reopening the Gibraltar dispute.
- Political agreement on the Gibraltar treaty reached between the EU, Spain, the UK and Gibraltar.
- Full treaty text made public after legal review by the European Commission.
- Treaty signed in Brussels by Maros Sefcovic and Stephen Doughty.
- Provisional application begins; border fence removed and passport controls abolished at the land crossing.
- European Parliament plenary vote on ratification expected.
Commercial and fiscal changes
The agreement opens direct flights between Gibraltar and EU destinations and deepens customs cooperation. Gibraltar will introduce an indirect tax equivalent to VAT, starting at 15 %. On tobacco, the total special duty on cigarettes may not fall below 115 euros per 1,000 units, and mutual cooperation to combat smuggling is built into the text. These fiscal convergence measures are designed to align the territory with the European single market without altering the fundamental sovereignty positions of Spain and the UK.
A decade after the Brexit vote
The signing, which Albares called the last piece of Brexit, comes nearly ten years after the 23 June 2016 referendum. The political agreement had been reached in June 2025, but the full text was made public only in February 2026 after legal review. With the treaty now signed, provisional application begins immediately at midnight, removing the border fence and passport checks. The treaty does not make Gibraltar part of Schengen and does not resolve the underlying sovereignty dispute, something both sides have consistently underlined.
It is a very special feeling to see a fence come down.
Next steps
Provisional application starts at midnight, but full entry into force requires ratification by the European Parliament, expected in a plenary session by the end of 2026, and approval by the British Parliament. To mark the change, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will travel on Wednesday to La Linea de la Concepcion, the Spanish town adjoining Gibraltar, to symbolise the end of the fence and the removal of passport controls at the land crossing.
