Spain claims victory in argument with Britain over Gibraltar status after EU parliament vote

Madrid has claimed victory in an argument with Britain over the status of Gibraltar, after the European Parliament passed a law that referred to the peninsula as a “colony of the British Crown.” The row may be a foretaste of Britain’s diminished heft once it leaves the European Union, Reuters said. A Spanish government spokesman said it was “the first time that the European Parliament and the… member states have recognized that Gibraltar is a colony,” and “a great step forward for the position and claims made by Spain.” Spain ceded the port at the mouth of the Mediterranean to Britain in 1713 after a war, but claims sovereignty over it. Gibraltar was a “crown colony” when Britain joined the European bloc in 1973, but London reclassified it as a “British overseas territory” in 2002.