EU AND GIBRALTAR 62 PARLIAMENTMAGAZINE 20 April 2015 G ibraltar has always sought a positive, progressive and mutually-beneficial relationship with the European Union. We are ahead of virtually all other jurisdic- tions in transposing EU directives into our own legal system, our tax legislation has been endorsed by EU finance ministers (ECOFIN) and we are consistently recognised as world innovators in the regulation of the online gambling industry. Along with deputy chief minister Joseph Garcia, I pay regular visits to Brussels and maintain strong links with MEPs and EU officials. As an indication of the strength of these links, my government has invested heavily in the legal infrastructure of our EU department. Our first Gibraltar office is due to open later this year in Brussels under the auspices of former MEP Graham Watson. Gibraltar is a fully compliant, innovative and progressive member of the EU, and deserves to be treated as such in our relationship with EU partners and institutions. Crucially, the people of Gibraltar are proud to consider themselves Europeans and they are genu- inely supportive of our positive approach to EU matters. We are fully up to date in its transposition of EU direc- tives and other measures and 80-85 per cent of all legislation considered in Gibraltar’s parliament originates from Europe. Furthermore, our tax legislation is compliant with the organ- isation for economic cooperation and development and the EU’s code group principles. As a direct result of the current administration’s reform of Gibraltar’s income tax act, ECOFIN endorsed it as being compliant with the European code of conduct for business taxation in June 2013. This was the first time that our tax system had been fully endorsed by both the code group and ECOFIN and, therefore, there can be no credible challenge to Gibraltarian companies being allowed full access to the single market. Indeed, the Bay of Gibraltar presents lucrative business opportunities to companies seeking access to the EU single market and this is an avenue that we are actively pursuing. A particular sector in which Gibraltar is a fully compliant world innovator is the online gaming industry. Our model directly sets the standard for consumer protection, common standards, sports integrity and anti-money laundering and we are always eager to offer our expertise in these areas. We have been referred to as ‘the Silicon Valley of online gaming’, and it fully intends to live up to this reputa- tion. We have helped to set online gaming standards for more than 20 years, and the proposal for national self-exclusion regis- ters that I proposed in March 2013 have since been adopted by the European com- Spain playing futile geopolitical games with Gibraltar’s future Fabian Picardo says Gibraltar expects the same ‘respect, dedication and support’ as other loyal members of the union “Gibraltar has come of age in the EU and is entitled to influence the direction of European legislation and to contribute to the future of the union”