Councilors of La Linea de la Concepcion have voted to present to the public a proposal to change the city’s status in a move that could see it become independent from the Junta de Andalucia.

Advisors La Linea de la Concepción July 8 voted to ask residents if they want the municipality to become an autonomous city with an autonomous government like Ceuta and Melilla, the Spanish enclaves in North Africa.

The ballot will take place in the next six to nine months and any results will have to be approved by the Cortes General, that is, the Spanish Parliament and Senate.

The local government maintains that the city’s dependence on Gibraltar justifies a change in status. If approved, a legal process would begin that could ensure that La Linea de la Concepcion remains part of the province of Cadiz but no longer falls within the area governed by the Junta de Andalucia.

The proposal is supported by the party that governs the city council, La Linéa 100 × 100, which holds all the seats on the board.

Antonio de Cabo de la Vega, professor of constitutional law at the Complutense University of Madrid, said he could not find any legal reason that would prevent La Linea de la Concepcion from becoming an autonomous city.

“There is no constitutional, statutory, legal or European law impediment or prohibition for the conversion of the municipality of La Linea de la Concepcion into autonomy, under the formula of an autonomous city, regardless of whether such a process is more or less complex, expensive, practical or expedient, ”he wrote in a document published on July 3.

The report also notes that “fiscal conditions are extremely lax” in Gibraltar and that La Linea de la Concepcion needs more autonomy to adapt to its proximity to the British controlled area. Gibraltar, Cabo and Vega, the spanish government and the UN point out, is awaiting “decolonization”.

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