Leading Article: We've been too soft on the Rock

With ownership come responsibilities, and in the case of Gibraltar, it has been evident for some considerable time that all was not well on the self-administered British colony. The Government has virtually ordered the authorities on Gibraltar to bring EU directives against corruption and money-laundering quickly into effect or face a series of sanctions that could lead to direct rule being imposed from London, as happened in Northern Ireland when Stormont was disbanded.

The parallel with Northern Ireland is instructive, because it was Britain's failure to prevent abuse of power by a nakedly arrogant and discriminatory Unionist administration that set the scene for the troubles only now hopefully drawing to a close. The same myopia seems to have been at play in Gibraltar, where corruption is rife and cigarette and drug smuggling has been allowed to flourish under the eyes of the authorities. When the Spaniards complained in the past, Britain took refuge behind the misty-eyed view that because the Rock's 250,000 inhabitants were British, they must be right and the Spaniards automatically wrong. That uncritical attitude to the governance of Gibraltar has led to the embarrassing situation to which London has only just woken up.

The British stance also explains why the Chief Minister, Joe Bossano, has exerted near-veto powers over attempts to improve bilateral relations between Spain and Gibraltar. The border has been the main point of contention, and continues to be. For years Mr Bossano has single-handedly held up the EU's external border convention. Gibraltar has also been reluctant to bring its laws into line with a whole series of EU directives aimed at preventing corruption and illegality. They include measures against money laundering, offshore banking, customs and open tendering for public contracts. Gibraltar's fear of European integration is that the removal of frontiers will eventually deliver it into the hands of the Spanish. It is true that over time the border mu st melt away but, as in Northern Ireland, that need not mean a sell-out for Gibraltar. Regional governments are growing in importance in Europe rather than diminishing, and Mr Bossano needs to act fast to show that Gibraltar deserves to be self-governed.