EU Readies Spain-Gibraltar Border Inspection Trip

The European Commission said Tuesday it would send a team of monitors to the Spain-Gibraltar border as perennial frontier spats resurfaced.

Commission spokesman Frederic Vincent said the EU "has informed the Spanish authorities of our intention to send Commission experts to the border."

The mission will not take place until September or October, he specified.

Spain is a Schengen territory -- a member of the vast, passport-free mainland European collection of countries with open borders at least to people.

Gibraltar, as a British Overseas Territory, is not in the travel area, despite the rocky outpost sitting at the southernmost tip of the Iberian peninsula -- a stone's throw from North Africa.

Border controls therefore exist already -- but the point of the mission is to check they are not being applied excessively.

Concerns arose over the weekend when Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo suggested that Madrid could introduce a 50-euro ($66) charge to cross the Gibraltar border, either way.

Madrid has not enacted such a charge, nor even begun legislating in that direction -- but both the British on the island and the European Union balk at the mere idea.

Gibraltar has a significant offshore banking sector and a booming reputation as an online gaming hub.

The Commission experts will ensure the border controls are applied "proportionately."

Even within Schengen, say on the French-German border, EU ministers now allow national governments to reinstate long-mothballed frontier checks on an ad hoc, temporary basis.

The Commission underlined its mission stems from complaints lodged by citizens and Euro MPs (thought, mainly, to be from England) on the issue, and is therefore duty-bound to investigate.