Spain's first post-Franco Socialist Government came to power on 28 October 1982 with a comfortable overall majority. The new Prime Minister, Felipe González, addressed the nation on television at 2.35 am from his party's HQ in the Hotel Palace. His message was brief, but such is the prominence given to the Gibraltar issue in Spanish foreign affairs that even on this occasion he made reference to it by saying that ‘we also reaffirm our unflagging aspiration to reintegrate Gibraltar into our national sovereignty’, words which were highlighted in the reaction the next day by the British press to the PSOE's victory.

On 7 December Felipe González held his first Cabinet meeting and afterwards gave a press conference. The Cabinet agreed that on 15 December the frontier with Gibraltar would be opened to visitors on foot on humanitarian grounds. At the press conference the Prime Minister explained that, although the frontier would be open 24 hours a day, people would only be allowed to make one crossing per day in each direction.

The following day the British Government reacted favourably to the proposal as far as it went, although the Foreign Office took the opportunity to point out that Britain had always kept its side of the border gates open (at least from 6.00 am to 1.00 am the next morning). A British observer was quoted as saying that the Spanish proposal was a master stroke, since by restricting access to pedestrians it would provide economic benefits to the Campo region but not to Gibraltar.