To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they will support Gibraltar's application to the European Court of Justice which challenges the habitat environmental directives which give Spain rights over British waters around Gibraltar on environmental issues. [HL4216]

As the UK is the only member state competent to propose a site covering British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (BGTW), we do not recognise the validity of the site in question. We therefore do not consider that the decision allows Spain any rights in BGTW.

We are aware that the Government of Gibraltar have applied to the Court of First Instance to challenge the listing of Estrecho Oriental under Commission Decision 2009/95/EC. This is a matter which we take very seriously and we are examining Gibraltar's case in detail to determine what action we might take.