Argentina aims to use no-deal Brexit to prise Falklands away from Britain

‘The EU could evaluate a decision on how to proceed and stand on these issues – and there may be a change’

ARGENTINA could use a no-deal Brexit to further its efforts to bring the Falklands under its control, the country’s foreign minister has said.

Jorge Faurie said he would exploit the situation to “enhance” efforts to pull the islands away from the UK and towards Buenos Aires. After Brexit, all EU treaties cease to apply and member states would no longer have to support the UK’S claim over the territory.

“Our planning for Las Malvinas is to have a negotiation that will enable more strong relations between the people on the islands and the people on the continent [mainland],” Mr Faurie said.

His remarks came amid growing uncertainty over the legal status of UK overseas territories. Under the EU’S 2009 Lisbon Treaty, the Falkland Islands are a British overseas territory to which some EU rules apply. The EU’S Duty of Sincere Cooperation includes a legal obligation for member states to assist each other in matters including claims over sovereignty.

Mr Faurie, on a visit to the UK, reiterated his position that the Falklands should be integrated into Argentina.

Theresa May is due to meet Mauricio Macri, Argentina’s president, at the G20 in Buenos Aires on Nov 30. Talks will officially focus on post-brexit trade but both leaders will be under pressure to discuss the territory’s future.

Italy, with its historic ties to Buenos Aires, and Spain are thought to be sympathetic to Argentina’s position.

Since the centre-right, pro-business Mr Macri came to power in 2015, the South American country has softened its stance towards the Falklands. However, Susana Malcorra, Mr Macri’s previous foreign minister, said last year that Argentina was “following closely” the Brexit process and how it might affect sovereignty of the islands.

“It is true that the European Union, through the EU agreements, is bonded very firmly and very strongly to the United Kingdom,” she said in Brussels. “So when Brexit takes place, the EU could evaluate a decision on how to proceed and how to stand on these issues – and there may be a change.”

In May this year, Boris Johnson became the first British foreign secretary to visit Argentina in 25 years when he laid a wreath to commemorate the 649 Argentinian soldiers who died in the Falklands war.

Mrs May’s planned visit to Argentina on Nov 30 comes two years after she wrote to Mr Macri calling for restrictions on oil exploration in the Falklands Islands to be lifted and for more flights to the British-run islands. But leaving the EU without a deal not only raises questions about sovereignty for the Falklands. The islands rely on tarifffree and quota-free access for its fish and meat to the European market, with exports accounting for 70 per cent of the islands’ GDP.

The Falkland Islands government has said “any material change that results in less beneficial import/export access could be potentially catastrophic for the Falkland Islands”. Trading with the EU on WTO terms could all but decimate the local economy on the 3,400-population archipelago.

In 2013, 99.8 per cent of islanders voted to remain under British rule. But as a British overseas territory, they did not get a vote in the Brexit referendum.