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Milei's bill to punish Falklands oil firms stalls in Argentina's Congress
Opposition blocs back tougher sanctions over the Sea Lion project but balk at a security council chaired by the president and a protocol to shoot down hostile aircraft.
Key points
- A fourth joint committee meeting ended without agreement on the National Sovereignty Defence bill.
- The bill proposes prison terms of up to 20 years for those involved in exploiting Falklands resources.
- Britain has moved to shield its companies from Argentine rules outside Argentina's jurisdiction.
A bill that would let Argentina jail people involved in exploiting resources around the Falkland Islands for up to 20 years has stalled in Congress, after opposition deputies refused to accept it in one piece.
The fourth joint meeting of the Chamber of Deputies’ defence, criminal law and foreign affairs committees ended on Wednesday without agreement on President Javier Milei’s National Sovereignty Defence bill. The text will not reach a special session set for 21 October.
The 133-article bill was sent to Congress in September. Its first 40 articles would replace a 2011 law against unauthorised oil exploration with a wider regime of fines, bans, a public register of offenders and prison terms, aimed at those behind the Sea Lion oil project in Falklands waters. The sanctions could reach affiliates, financiers, shareholders and suppliers, and possibly the islands’ fishing industry.
Several opposition blocs support that section and want it passed on its own. What they reject is a National Security Council chaired by the head of state and a protocol that would allow, as a last resort, aircraft to be shot down or vessels sunk if judged hostile. Milei’s La Libertad Avanza has refused to split the bill.
María Ibarzábal Murphy, the government’s legal and technical secretary, told lawmakers that current legislation “does not provide for fishing-related offences.”
Argentina has also asked the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg to halt Sea Lion. Britain says it will abide by any provisional measures but will challenge any attempt to use the case to settle sovereignty. It is preparing measures under its Protection of Trading Interests legislation so that British firms and citizens cannot be forced to follow Argentine rules abroad. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband called Argentina’s attempts to intimidate businesses “unacceptable.”