Workers removed the fence separating Gibraltar from Spain at midnight Tuesday, and by early Wednesday crowds crossed freely in both directions between La Línea de la Concepción and the British territory [1]. Many wore Spanish soccer jerseys after Spain beat France in the World Cup semifinal hours earlier, adding to the celebratory mood. The opening enacts a historic treaty signed Tuesday by the European Union, the United Kingdom and Gibraltar's government, ending years of post-Brexit wrangling that had left the enclave's status unresolved since Britain left the bloc in 2020 [1].

On social feeds the fence became a symbol to fight over: pro-EU accounts read its collapse as Brexit visibly unraveling, while sovereignty hawks framed it as Britain quietly ceding control of a contested frontier Spain still claims. AP reports the narrower, harder fact underneath that noise. Without the deal, Gibraltar faced a hard land border with full passport checks, a direct economic threat to a territory that depends on roughly 15,000 Spaniards -- almost half its workforce -- who cross daily for work [1].

"What you feel here is the brotherhood between the two people," Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told broadcaster RTVE [1]. EU trade representative Maroš Šefčovič called it four years of "patient, complex negotiation" and said it was "a very special feeling to see a fence come down." For home-care worker Mendez Segura, 51, the change was stranger than triumphant: "I've been crossing over and working in Gibraltar all my life with my identity card," she said [1].

-- CHARLES ASHFORD, Paris