The Irish Times view on post-Brexit diplomacy: the price of being outside the room

It would not have happened before Brexit. But the departure of the UK from the EU, championed as a means of extending the UK’s global influence, has left it outside the door of this week’s EU-Latin America and Caribbean (Celac) summit in Brussels, and so unable to block a minor diplomatic coup by Argentina.

To the disappointment of British diplomats, the rage of the easily miffed British press, and delight in Buenos Aires, the EU endorsed an Argentina-backed statement that includes a reference to the Islas Malvinas, the Argentine name for the disputed Falkland Islands (it actually referred to both names) over which Margaret Thatcher fought a war in 1982.

London’s protests have been in vain and UK prime minster Rishi Sunak yesterday referred to the statement as a " regrettable choice of words”. But post-Brexit, the UK was not able to block it.

“Regarding the question of sovereignty over the Islas Malvinas/Falkland Islands,” it said, in harmlessly reprising otherwise well-established language, “the EU took note of Celac’s historical position based on the importance of dialogue and respect for international law in the peaceful solution of disputes.” It was endorsed by 32 of the 33 Celac countries, Ireland included, with Nicaragua refusing because of language on Ukraine.

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The latest tiff has echoes of the storm surrounding then taoiseach Charles Haughey’s notorious and controversial attempt to embarrass Thatcher by, as he described it in the Dáil (May 11th, 1982), reasserting “our traditional policy of neutrality” in opposing UN and EU sanctions on Argentina over its invasion of the islands.

In his speech he referred to “the Falkland or Malvinas islands”. As a member of the Security Council, he argued, following the sinking of the battleship Belgrano, that “it seemed important to us that an initiative should be taken which would restore diplomacy and the search for a peaceful solution to the centre of the stage.” Sir Robert Armstrong, Thatcher’s cabinet secretary, would describe Haughey’s decision as the last straw for the Haughey-Thatcher relationship.