Relations between the European Union and Argentina have been under severe strain for several years now owing to a diplomatic dispute between the Argentinean government and the United Kingdom over the status of the Falkland Islands. This dispute was exacerbated by Argentina’s expropriation in April of the 51% stake held by the Spanish company Repsol in YPF, a former state-owned oil company, which had been privatized in the early 1990s. This action provoked a public outcry in Madrid and beyond, especially in the European Commission. This Commentary explores its longer-term impact on relations between the EU and Argentina.
Salvador Llaudes is a student from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and is currently with the EU Politics and Institutions Unit. Piotr Maciej Kaczy?ski is a CEPS Research Fellow in the same unit.
