Two international bridges with Portugal: agreements on the Guadiana and the Sever

The Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic have completed parliamentary approval for the construction of two international bridges over the Guadiana and Sever rivers, which will connect Sanlúcar de Guadiana with Alcoutim and Cedillo with Montalvão-Nisa. The agreements, signed in Faro on 23 October 2024, were authorised by the Congress of Deputies and the Senate in 2025, and their texts appear in the Official Gazette of the Cortes Generales (BOCG), Series A, Nos. 118 to 121, of 14 February 2025. The package is completed by two agreements on navigation and fishing in the international stretch of the Guadiana, already published in the BOE on 27 November 2025.

The four instruments are part of the cross-border cooperation between the two countries in the Guadiana basin and its tributaries, where the river acts as a natural border between Huelva, Badajoz and Cáceres, on the Spanish side, and the Algarve and Alentejo, on the Portuguese side. The Cortes Generales processed the authorisations between February and June 2025, and the two agreements on river uses were published in BOE No. 285, of 27 November 2025, the date from which their provisions are in force.

Two bridges to cross the border

The construction of the two fixed crossings over the Guadiana and the Sever will provide road connections to riverside towns currently separated by the riverbed, in one of the areas of the Spanish-Portuguese border with the least communication infrastructure:

• Bridge over the Guadiana: between Sanlúcar de Guadiana (Spain) and Alcoutim (Portugal).
• Bridge over the Sever: between Cedillo (Spain) and Montalvão-Nisa (Portugal).
• Signing of both agreements: Faro, 23 October 2024.
• Publication of the texts: BOCG, Series A, Nos. 118 and 119, of 14 February 2025.

Navigation and fishing in the international stretch

Alongside the bridges, the two States regulated the uses of the border river to organise activity in the shared stretch of the Guadiana, which until now lacked a common management framework:

• Safety of navigation and recreational boating in the International Stretch of the Guadiana River (BOCG, Series A, No. 120, of 14-II-2025).
• Fishing in the international stretch of the Guadiana River (TIRG) (BOCG, Series A, No. 121, of 14-II-2025).
• Both published in BOE No. 285, of 27 November 2025.

The parliamentary process

The two chambers of the Cortes Generales authorised the four agreements in the spring of 2025, following the publication of their texts in Series A of the BOCG:

• Congress of Deputies: authorization on 14 May 2025 (Series C, Nos. 56-3 to 59-3, of 22-V-2025).
• Senate: authorization on 11 June 2025 for the two bridges (Section III, Nos. 274_2527 and 274_2528, of 16-VI-2025) and on 18 June 2025 for navigation and fishing (Section III, Nos. 280_2565 and 280_2566, of 24-VI-2025).

Why it matters

The two bridges represent the biggest commitment to land connectivity on the southern border of the Guadiana and the Sever in decades: they finally establish a road crossing between Sanlúcar de Guadiana and Alcoutim and between Cedillo and Montalvão-Nisa, municipalities whose communication currently depends on barges or long detours through other border crossings. The common framework for navigation and fishing on the international stretch also provides legal certainty to the tourism, nautical and fishing activities of the estuary and the middle course of the Guadiana, with direct benefits for the provinces of Huelva, Badajoz and Cáceres and for the Portuguese Algarve and Alentejo.

Source: BOCG Cortes Generales, Series A, Nos. 118-121, of 14-II-2025 (official reference: Agreements between the Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic, done at Faro on 23-X-2024); BOE No. 285, of 27 November 2025.