Gibraltar removes border fence with Spain in historic treaty shift

Thousands of commuters, workers and shoppers crossing between Gibraltar and La Línea de la Concepción began using a border without its old fence on Wednesday, after La verja was fully removed at midnight and routine land checks started to end. About 15,000 people cross that 1.2-kilometre frontier every day, and the change is set to reshape the daily commute between the British territory and southern Spain.

The land border has long been one of Europe’s most sensitive crossings. Spain closed it in 1969 under Francisco Franco, then fully reopened it in February 1985, a date Gibraltar officials marked as the 40th anniversary of the frontier’s reopening in 2025. For generations, the fence and the checks around it defined the movement of families, workers and businesses on both sides of the border.

Britain and the European Union formally signed the Gibraltar treaty in Brussels on Tuesday, with Stephen Doughty and Maroš Šefčovič signing the deal while Fabian Picardo and José Manuel Albares attended. Negotiations on the agreement concluded in June 2025, and the treaty is designed to replace the uncertainty that followed Brexit with a freer border regime and new controls at Gibraltar’s port and airport.

The deal integrates Gibraltar into the Schengen area and provides for a customs union, while shifting border controls away from the land frontier. That arrangement is meant to ease the pressure on daily travel and strengthen Gibraltar’s economic links with Spain and the wider European Union, including direct flight connections between Gibraltar and EU destinations.

The political compromise does not settle Gibraltar’s contested sovereignty, which remains one of the central disputes in the territory’s modern history. But the border opening carries particular weight in Gibraltar, where 96% of voters backed Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum and where post-Brexit checks hit a community that relies on cross-border movement for work, trade and shopping.

For now, the removal of the fence is the most visible sign of a new operating model at a disputed border. The real test will come as the port and airport checks take over the job once handled at the land frontier.