Leading dailies in Spain have poured scorn on the plan by the Government of Gibraltar to hold a referendum on proposals for the UK and Spain to share sovereignty over the colony.

Spaniards themselves are almost equally split over the shared sovereignty plan, according to a public opinion poll in ABC.

Caruana's last bullet in his armoury

La Razon

Just over 48% of Spaniards consider shared sovereignty a good idea, while the rest are against, the ABC poll indicates.

A commentary in El Mundo says Gibraltar Chief Minister Peter Caruana's referendum plan "is totally lacking in legitimacy" and shows his government is running scared that Britain and Spain are about to settle the 300-year-old dispute over the rock.

El Mundo says it is unviable for a rock of six square kilometres to form a nation with full self-determination.

"Its decolonisation must go ahead to enable the re-establishment of full national unity."

El Mundo stresses the importance of reaching agreement with Britain on Gibraltar's future "to stop in their tracks Caruana's inadmissible pretensions".

For La Razon, Mr Caruana is making "a great mistake" in refusing to accept "the new realities".

He was blind to the fact Gibraltar had acquired the unacceptable international reputation as a "financial paradise and money laundering centre".

La Razon calls the referendum "Caruana's last bullet in his armoury" and warns that although it lacks legal force, it could serve to create a commotion in London and sabotage talks with Madrid.

Confusion

El Pais calls for a settlement of the long-standing crisis which "Gibraltarians end up viewing as more beneficial than disadvantageous" as well as being acceptable to Britain and Spain.

It accuses British Prime Minister Tony Blair of "sowing confusion" in statements over whether shared sovereignty would extend to the British military base on Gibraltar but says the overall stance suggests there is room for negotiation.

Any differences have to be resolved through negotiation, not by unilateral decisions

Foreign Minister Ana de Palacios

But it calls for an agreement sooner rather than later, warning Madrid against obtaining a settlement "at any price, while not letting negotiations drag on interminably".

And ABC quotes Foreign Minister Ana de Palacio as saying the planned referendum "contravenes international legality".

She says Mr Caruana has an invitation "to come, to talk, to participate. Any differences have to be resolved through negotiation, not by unilateral decisions".

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.