EU to retaliate for Argentina’s YPF seizure

The European Union warned Argentina on the 19 April 2012 it was prepared to take wide-ranging retaliatory action for Buenos Aires’s nationalisation of Spanish-controlled oil group YPF, threatening a legal fight against unrelated trade policies the EU believes discriminate against foreign goods.

Karel De Gucht, the EU’s Trade Commissioner, issued the thinly veiled threat in a letter to Héctor Timerman, Argentina’s foreign minister, in which he also warned that the renationalisation of YPF, which Spanish energy group Repsol controls, could scupper EU talks with Mercosur – the regional trade group of which Argentina is a member – over a broader trade deal.

ESO: Background information: EU outraged as Spain's Repsol ousted from Argentina http://www.europeansources.info/record/eu-outraged-as-spains-repsol-ousted-from-argentina/

BBC News, 20.4.12: YPF oil: EU condemns Repsol state seizure http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17783208

European Parliament: Press Release, 20.4.12: Parliament deplores Argentina's decision to expropriate YPF http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pressroom/content/20120419IPR43561/html/Parliament-deplores-Argentina%27s-decision-to-expropriate-YPF

Deutsche Welle, 20.4.12: Argentina ups stakes in oil, and now gas, takeover http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15898925,00.html

El País, 20.4.12: Second legal front may open in Repsol’s battle with Argentina http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/04/20/inenglish/1334949918_553124.html

---