Border controls between Gibraltar and Spain are to be removed this week, allowing freedom of movement.
The move will come into effect on 15 July and is part of a carefully negotiated agreement between the European Union and the UK following the latter's exit from the bloc. Sharing a land border with the EU meant that Gibraltar posed a particular challenge in the post-Brexit era.
Gibraltar has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. But La Línea de la Concepción and the nearby area is one of the most deprived parts of Spain.
Unemployment, which is high across the southern Andalusia region, is close to 30% here. The removal of the border is therefore expected to have major economic benefits, facilitating the flow of people back and forth, and possibly going some way to redress the imbalance between the two territories.
"This is something historic, we've had a border fence since 1908," says Juan Franco, the mayor of La Línea de la Concepción, who is keen to underline the local economic dependence on the British territory.
"You have to realise that for an average company in this town a third of its income is from clients in Gibraltar," he says.
After a decade of uncertainty regarding Gibraltar's future relationship with Spain following the UK's vote to leave the EU, Franco says he believes "this solution to Brexit will end up having a positive effect for us".
source: commonspace.eu with BBC (London)
