30. In addition, the Government of Gibraltar has always made it clear that it has no authority to intervene in the operation of the Community Care Trust. Even if the Government of Gibraltar wished to do so, it did not have the authority to amend the Community Care Trust or to order directors to amend the quota payment to meet HMG`s requirements, or more. Moreover, the Government of Gibraltar is not prepared to advise or encourage the directors of the Community Care Trust to implement the British government`s socially retrograde and unfair demands on the elderly in Gibraltar, as an alternative to the re-valance of pensions paid to Spanish workers by the HMG (which remains at the 1988 rates). 2. In 1969, the Franco regime in Spain unilaterally closed the border with Gibraltar as part of an economic blockade that was to continue until 1985. 4,500 Spanish workers (shuttlers) were “blocked” overnight from Gibraltar (and their workplaces). There were about 10,000 other Spaniards who contributed between 1955 and 1969, but did not participate in the closure of the border. At the time, weekly contributions to the pension fund through social security contributions were seven pence per employee per week. As a result, the contributions of former Spanish workers ceased in 1969, when their employment in Gibraltar ended following the closure of the border by Spain.

28. In February 1996, the British Government began urging the Government of Gibraltar to reform the HCA because it believed that the scheme could violate EU rules prohibiting discrimination in social security benefits, since the HCA was not paid to Spanish pensioners who were not based in Gibraltar. The British government believes that the HCA can be a social security measure (not a social assistance), because it is based on age and not necessity. In November, the European Union and the United Kingdom concluded the terms of an orderly uk withdrawal agreement from the European Union. Gibraltar was part of that agreement. The withdrawal agreement includes a transition period until the end of 2020, including in Gibraltar. This agreement is subject to ratification by the British Parliament and the European Parliament. 12. It wasn`t until 1983, following a bilateral agreement with Spain on the issue of pensions, which HMG addressed the Commission, which proposed two alternatives, namely (1) that Spain should pay pension payments to former Spanish workers in exchange for payment of contributions (plus interest collected) from former Spanish workers to former Spanish workers; or (2) The EC should accept a waiver from the payment of reassessed pensions to former Spanish workers and accept payment instead of pre-1986 pension rates, as well as a possible annual increase in pensions to gibraltar.