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University of Cadíz Postpones San Roque Summer Courses 2020

Chris Gomez

For the first time in 40 years the University of Cadíz Postpones the San Roque Summer Courses due to COVID19 lockdown

For the last 40 years, the University of Cadiz (UCA) and the Municipal Council of San Roque have been holding summer courses in San Roque which deal with a large number of issues of interest to the people of the Campo de Gibraltar.

Aside from historical issues, which have generated a great deal of national and international interest, the Faculty of International Law and International Relations of the UCA have been hosting 3-day seminars dealing with Gibraltar topics.

Credit: InfoGib

Over the last 3 years, and promoted by the Mayor of San Roque, Juan Carlos Ruiz Boix and Professors Alejandro Del Valle and Jesús Verdú, one day of each of those seminars has been held at the University of Gibraltar’s Europa Point campus.

This year will mark the 40th anniversary of the summer courses. Initially, it was scheduled for the second half of this July, but has now been postponed until further notice when the coronavirus situation clears up.

This week, Spain has seen a decrease in the daily death-toll attributed to coronavirus, resulting in some relaxation on the lockdown measures. Some very few businesses have reopened however, bars, restaurants and public spaces remain closed.

The UCA seminars have not only brought together many of the social agents in the region such as educators, union officials and representatives of the business communities from both sides of the frontier, but also top experts from Gibraltar, Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany and the European Union.

Among the speakers have been Ambassadors and both active and retired ministers of the Spanish Government as well as Gibraltarian leaders.

The salient result of these seminars has been that they have brought together people who have often been at odds with each other in keeping with their respective national agendas, in a spirit of real and friendly interaction.

The European ideal of regional cooperation and the practical means of achieving this have been among the most important products of the seminars.

The Gibraltar Government led by Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and the University of Gibraltar have at all times been fully cooperative in every respect including by the attendance of the Chief Minister himself, other Ministers and senior officials such as the Attorney General as well as providing financial assistance to these very high level events and the venue at Europa Point.

The seminars have all been carefully recorded by Professor Juan Domingo Torrejón of the UCA and have been published in several of the University’s journals.

The UCA’s representative in Gibraltar is Gibraltarian barrister Charles Gomez who is an associate Professor of the UCA’s Faculty of International Law and International Relations.

University of Cadíz Postpones the San Roque Summer Courses 2020

Reacting to the announcement that this year’s seminar will be postponed on account of ‘force majeure’ he said:

“The seminars have really brought together a lot of people from Spanish political and academic spheres who may not have known the realities of this region. There has been a really important shift in approach in certain sectors. If nothing else, the sad shock and paradigm shift of the Coronavirus pandemic may bring together people and institutions on both sides of the frontier – and indeed every other frontier and division – as we finally realise that we are all in it together. At least in this way, I personally can start trying to make sense of this awful catastrophe.”

For the first time in 40 years the University of Cadíz Postpones the San Roque Summer Courses due to COVID19 lockdown

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