A BRITISH warship docked has Gibraltar in a pre-planned naval exercise as European leaders worked to calm a row between Britain and Spain over sovereignty and fishing rights.
The Type 23 frigate, equipped with a weapons system including a torpedo launcher, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, Sea Wolf surface-to-air missiles and helicopter, arrived under the gaze of onlookers on Monday, some of them waving British flags.
The naval visit to the territory bordering the tip of Spain was planned well before the recent rise in tensions, but was seen as symbolic amid the row, which has led EU authorities to weigh in.
It came a day after dozens of Spanish fishing boats sailed to waters around Gibraltar in a protest to demand it remove 70 concrete blocks it has dropped in their fishing grounds.
The Gibraltar government says the concrete reef will regenerate marine life and argues that the Spanish raked for shellfish there illegally.
The Spaniards say they have been cut off from rich fishing grounds, hurting the livelihoods of fishermen in the poor southern region of Andalusia.
It is the latest in a string of diplomatic rows over the self-governing British overseas territory, which measures just 6.8 square kilometres and is home to about 30,000 people.
Amid the row, Spain has imposed intense customs checks at the land border to Gibraltar, leading to daily hours-long queues of cars.
Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo suggested in a press interview in early August that a 50 euro tax could be levied for travellers entering Spain from Gibraltar.
Imposing taxes or toll fees at EU member-state borders would be "illegal under EU law," European Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly told a news briefing in Brussels on Monday.
Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy spoke by telephone with the Commission's President Jose Manuel Barroso, officials said. Barroso held a similar conversation with Cameron on Friday.
Speaking to Barroso, Rajoy invited EU experts to come to Spain and Gibraltar to assess the situation, a Spanish government statement said.
Bailly said that visit was planned for September and that the EU may consider whether the reef meets the bloc's environmental regulations.
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