With respect, it wasn't an argument it was a statement of fact. One echoed by the co-chair of the European council on foreign relations (one of the few chinks in the wall of silence the EU have been employing to avoid addressing the UK's actions, the other being the leak by the upcoming EU foreign policy chief that the USA originally asked Spain to stop the tanker and they refused).You were arguing that EU law/sanctions didn't apply to the tanker though - specifically the prohibitions on certain trade relating to Syria.
I'm honestly not sure how else to explain it really, you break the EU law by violating a sanction, but if the sanction doesn't apply to you then you cannot violate it by non-compliance and therefor cannot break the law.I'm really not sure what distinction you're trying to make here re: sanctions/law
One example I can think off that might help, is that pedestrians are not allowed to walk on the motorway, it's stated as a must not in the highway code therefore doing so is illegal and a person doing so would be breaking the law. It doesn't apply to cars, so a driver wouldn't be breaking the law by driving on the motorway (unless he was also doing something that was illegal ofc).
I never said they didn't.Gibraltar is part of the EU - why do you think EU law/sanctions don't apply there?