Gibraltar ushers in a new era as British territory's border fence with Spain is removed

MADRID (AP) — Thousands of people who travel every day between the southern tip of Spain and the British territory of Gibraltar will no longer have to cross a physical border, beginning on Wednesday.The official opening at midnight, after a border fence was fully removed, allows a new freedom of movement under a historic European Union-U.K. treaty that came after years of post-Brexit wrangling.The contested British Overseas Territory of 38,000 people is perched at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, strategically located mere miles from Morocco at a point where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea.When Britain left the EU in 2020, the relationship between Gibraltar and the bloc had been left unresolved. Previous talks on a deal to ensure people and goods could keep flowing across the border had made halting progress. In 2025, the EU and U.K. announced an agreement on those issues, with the two sides and Gibraltar’s government signing a treaty Tuesday that eases border crossings. The U.K.’s Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty said Tuesday that the agreement secured Gibraltar’s long-term economic future and interests.

Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s trade representative, praised the agreement, too.