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2.
THE FALKLAND ISLANDS: ARGENTINE DISPUTE
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The Committee considered a memorandum by the Foreign Secretary and the Commonwealth Secretary (OPD(67) 20) about the Anglo-Argentine dispute in
respect of the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.
THE FOREIGN SECRETARY said that the Falkland Islands had little economic
and no strategic value. The dispute with the Argentine made it a political
embarrassment to us, but this had to be balanced against the wishes of the
2,000 inhabitants who were of pure British stock. The problem was to find a solution acceptable to British public opinion which would secure adequate guarantees for the islanders, but be politically acceptable to the Argentine Government. It was therefore proposed that in future rounds of discussions with representatives of the Argentine Government we should reformulate in more positive terms a proposal put to them in November 1966 which provided for a lengthy transitional period followed by a choice of sovereignty by the
islanders themselves. We should stress that the Government had thereby
made a substantial advance on their previous position in that they would be prepared in principle to cede sovereignty: but they could not justify this
unless it were in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants. This
would have to be decided by means of a referendum and the Argentine
Government and the United Nations Secretary-General might be invited to send
observers. The Argentine reply might be that, regardless of the transitional
period, they could not accept a referendum on sovereignty, since the Falkland islanders were in Argentine law already Argentine subjects. If for that reason no agreement could be reached on our proposal, we should propose an
interim agreement for, say, ten years which would provide that the United
Kingdom Government would be prepared to cede sovereignty provided the change
were acceptable to the islanders, coupled with a statement by Argentina of
the guarantees which she would be prepared to offer to them.
In that event,
the agreement should also include the immediate restoration of freedom of communications between Argentina and the islands, the freezing of legal
rights on both sides and provision for review at the end of 10 years.
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS said that a telegram had
been received the previous evening from the Governor seeking delay in the
communication of these proposals to the Argentine Government. The Argentine
Ambassador was, however, due to return on 22nd March and if no proposals had
been put forward by then the present goodwill would be dissipated and the
task of reaching a settlement made more difficult. There would no doubt be
substantial Parliamentary and public criticism of our willingness to cede sovereignty, but in the circumstances the best course was to proceed on the
lines now proposed.
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