Falklands/Malvinas: Will Milei be able to find a solution to a long-standing and expensive problem?
Javier Milei, the new Argentine president, during the electoral campaign had strongly expressed himself for the return of the sovereignty of the Malinas/Falklands to Argentina, as you can also see directly in the following video:
He says it clearly: "Las Malvinas son argentinas, la soberanìa no se negocia", "The Malvinas are Argentine, sovereignty is not discussed", and this is almost obvious because, otherwise, they would not have elected him in Argentina.
But then he states that it is necessary to achieve a return of the Malvinas/Falklands to Buenos Aires in a peaceful way and with diplomatic negotiations, as happened with Hong Kong.
Curiously, Milei has great admiration for Margaret Thatcher, who, before Gualtieri's invasion, had carried forward and even concluded the latest proposal for a peaceful settlement between the United Kingdom and Argentina on the islands.
If it were not for the madness of the Argentine dictator it would have been perfectly possible that a 99-year sale and leaseback agreement could have been reached in 1980 under the auspices of the United Nations. It had been negotiated since 1971 and Labour's Ted Rowlands had sold such a deal to the Islanders in 1977. If Labor had not lost in 1979, it would have been a long shot.
At that time the islanders' contacts with the adjacent mainland were close, including shared schools. The Rowlands Agreement was revived and again announced, tactlessly, to the islanders by Thatcher's junior minister, Nick Ridley. The agreement provided for the recognition of Argentine sovereignty, but the leasing of the islands to the United Kingdom and its current inhabitants, for 99 years or less. Yet upon his return, Ridley – and his proposal for a leasing agreement – was attacked by all parties in parliament, after which the Argentine invasion precipitated and ended the negotiations.
Yet the United Kingdom at the time, in a serious economic crisis, absolutely did not want to maintain an expensive southern and Antarctic presence. The last patrol vessel in the area was to be laid up. The two British aircraft carriers sold or retired, all to save money. Faced with these choices and the breakdown of the negotiations, Argentina intervened militarily, causing the famous costly and bloody conflict.
Yet in recent years maintaining the islands, with an RAF detachment and a ship to monitor the nearby seas, has cost £2.4 billion for 3,600 inhabitants. That they will be the masters of their destiny, and that they have always voted to stay with London, but that they cost 670 thousand pounds each, and in any case the islands would be indefensible from a serious Argentine attack.
Is this the right time to find a solution?
Thanks to our Telegram channel you can stay updated on the publication of new Economic Scenarios articles.
The article Falklands/Malvinas: Will Milei be able to find a solution to a long-standing and expensive problem? comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/falklands-malvinas-milei-sara-in-gradi-di-trovare-una-soluzione-a-un-problema-annoso-e-costoso/ on Fri, 01 Dec 2023 17:08:02 +0000.