Madrid and Brussels have approached the British government with a proposal for removing the border fence between Spain and Gibraltar in order to ease freedom of movement, Spain's top diplomat said Friday. There was no immediate response from London but Gibraltar's chief minister said his government and the UK had their own proposals on the table. "The text presented to the United Kingdom is a comprehensive proposal that includes provisions on mobility with the aim of removing the border fence and guaranteeing freedom of movement," Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said in a statement. Such a move would make Spain, as representative of Europe's passport-free Schengen zone, "responsible for controlling Gibraltar's external borders", it said. The Schengen Area allows people to move freely across the internal borders of 26 member states, four of which are not part of the EU. In remarks to Gibraltar's parliament, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said Albares' remarks "set out Spain's view" of the ongoing negotiations to iron out the details of a post-Brexit treaty with the EU over the enclave's future. "The United Kingdom and Gibraltar also have proposals on the table...
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