Med control 'now under Spanish flag' says ex minister

Royal Navy Base, Gibraltar

GIBRALTAR (Agencies)  Javier Solana, the former NATO Secretary General, and previously Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs, said yesterday that the agreement reached last year between the US and Spain regarding the naval base at Rota as part of the organization's anti-missile system is 'fundamental' to control the Mediterranean, to the detriment of Gibraltar. He made the comment at a seminar on international security and defense being held in Toledo. After reviewing the situation of present conflict in the world, Solana stated that after the agreement reached with Washington about Rota, which is to shortly become the base for four  ships of the NATO anti-missile system and which will therefore hold a very important role in controlling entrance and exit of the Mediterranean, which will now be done "under the Spanish flag."