ABSTRACT
The discernible movement towards the development of democratic institutions and democratic political processes in Spain and the parallel growth in the cordiality of Anglo-Spanish relations which had been evidenced since the death of General Franco in November 1975 had failed to produce any alleviation of the Spanish pressure upon Gibraltar. The frontier restrictions which had been progressively imposed by the Spanish authorities were still in place and it seemed that there was no immediate sign of positive progress towards a settlement of the Gibraltar problem when, at a ceremony in honour of the late Spanish Foreign Minister, Señor Fernando Maria Castiella, held in San Roque, the new Spanish Foreign Minister, Señor Marcelino Oreja, promised to seek a formula that would return Gibraltar to Spain.1
