Argentina accuses Cameron of 'irate' reaction in Falklands row

Argentina has accused Prime Minister David Cameron of bad manners after a row over the Falkland Islands broke out at a European Union summit.

Cameron reportedly stepped in to defend Britain's claim on the islands after Argentina's foreign minister Hector Timerman urged the EU to support his country's fight against the "colonialist" British.

During a dinner in Brussels, where more than 60 EU and Latin American leaders met to discuss trade links, Timerman condemned the drilling by UK companies for oil and gas off the disputed South Atlantic islands.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"Extracting natural resources that belong to the Argentine people is totally illegal," he said. "Colonialism still persists, relying on the logic of appropriation of natural resources."

In a move designed to "delight" voters back home, Timerman told Cameron that the islands belonged to Argentina, reports the Daily Telegraph.

According to Argentine media reports, he said his government expected countries from the EU to support a United States resolution that urges Argentina and the UK to open a dialogue over the disputed territory.

In a heated exchange, Cameron apparently ordered Timerman to stop "threatening" the people of the Falklands and to "respect" the referendum in which islanders overwhelmingly voted to remain a British Overseas Territory.

Later, Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner described the Prime Minister's response as "irate, almost ill-mannered".

A spokesman for Cameron defended his intervention as "clear and robust".

He added: "It is completely unacceptable of Argentina to be threatening companies looking to invest in the Falkland Islands or in the waters surrounding there."

No direct mention was made of the 1982 war, in which 659 Argentinians and 258 Britons died after Buenos Aires invaded the islands.