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Europe Today |
Letter from Lisbon -- Alison Roberts on a territorial claim revived. (Friday, 08 March, 2002, 14:07 GMT)
Portuguese campaigners have publicly accused Spain of hypocrisy in seeking to reclaim Gibraltar from the UK while retaining a piece of land annexed from Portugal 200 years ago. The town of Olivença -- Olivenza in Spanish -- and 600 square kilometres of surrounding territory remains in Spanish hands, although according to the Portuguese campaigners Spain pledged to give it back as long ago as 1817.
History professor Humberto de Oliveira is president of the Grupo de Amigos de Olivença - the Friends of Olivença - which recently stepped up its campaign for the return of the disputed territory. When European Union foreign ministers gathered in the Spanish town of Caceres, it sent each of them a letter in their national languages condemning Spain's continued occupation of Olivença and the surrounding area as an "unacceptable violation of international law".
The group argues that, while Spain claims sovereignty over Gibraltar despite recognising the 1709 Treaty of Utrecht that granted it to Britain, Portugal's claim to Olivença is bolstered by accords such as the 1815 Treaty of Vienna, ratified by Spain.
Spain had annexed the town in 1801 at a time of Portuguese weakness. Spain was then allied with France, which under Napoleon was seeking to squeeze Britain by forcing Portugal to close its ports to British ships. But after Napoleon's defeat, treaties such as the one forced on Portugal by Spain were declared void.
Portugal never got Olivença back, but it's never given up its claim. Its 1976 constitution is worded accordingly - describing Portugal as comprising "territory historically defined". The relevant stretch of the frontier remains unmarked.
But if Portugal has always made sure not to undermine its legal claim to Olivença, it's done little to promote it. The need to maintain good relations with its larger neighbour has, if anything, increased since EU membership for both has sent trade and cross-border investment soaring.
As a result, it's been left to groups like the Amigos de Olivença to keep the cause alive. The relaunch of negotiations on Gibraltar has given them a stick with which to beat Spain. They accuse it of hypocrisy in seeking to reclaim Gibraltar, and in hanging on to Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa, when it's failed to hand back Olivença. And, they say, if Spain is unconcerned about the effect on relations with the UK of pressing its claim to Gibraltar, why doesn't Portugal press its claim?
The Portuguese campaigners acknowledge that, if asked, Olivença's residents would want to stay with Spain, but that this is the result of two centuries of repression and migration. For most of that period, Portuguese was banned, yet even now many people are fluent. Often they speak Portuguese at home and Spanish in public.
Unsurprisingly, the issue of Olivença has always loomed larger in Portugal than in Spain, which is happy with the status quo. But last year's 200th anniversary of the annexation triggered interest, bringing a gaggle of journalists down from Madrid. Their view of the subject was not always disinterested, and the local historian who showed me around town that day - not a native of Olivença but an enthusiastic promoter of its Portuguese architectural heritage - practically broke into a run every time we saw them.
Like many residents, he didn't want to get used by one camp or another. But he was delighted that Olivença and its magnificent monuments - which aren't mentioned in many guidebooks about Spain - were getting some attention.
For Europe Today, this is Alison Roberts in Lisbon.
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