Rishi Sunak hits out at EU calling Falklands Islands ‘Islas Malvinas’

Downing Street has criticised the European Union after it used the name Argentina uses for the Falkland Islands in an official document. A statement issued after a summit with Latin American countries this week referred to the contested territory as “the Islas Malvinas/Falkland Islands”.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman called it a “regrettable choice of words”. But the EU insisted it was not taking a position on the sovereignty dispute.

Argentina has long claimed sovereignty over the Falklands, a British overseas territory in the south-west Atlantic Ocean. The two countries fought a war over the issue, after Argentine forces invaded the islands in 1982.

Earlier this year, Argentina pulled out of a co-operation deal signed in 2016 and has been pushing for talks on sovereignty. The reference to “Islas Malvinas” came in an EU statement issued following a Brussels summit with CELAC, a group of 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries that includes Argentina.

It is the first summit the organisation has held with CELAC since the UK left the EU in early 2020.

Photo by Vijay Chander on Unsplash

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