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4/17/12

Angry Spain threatens Argentina with retaliation after oil company YPF nationalization

An angry Spain threatened swift economic retaliation against Argentina on Tuesday after it unveiled plans to seize YPF, the South American nation's biggest  oil company which is controlled by Spanish energy group Reps.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso urged Argentina to uphold international agreements on business protection with Spain. "I am seriously disappointed about yesterday's announcement," he said in Brussels.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague added to the chorus of condemnation, saying: "This goes against all the commitments Argentina has made in the G20 to promote transparency and reduce protectionism."

Argentina and Britain have also been locked in a diplomaticbattle over oil exploration in the Falkland Islands for months.

Spanish media slammed the expropriation, believed to be biggest nationalization in the natural resources field since the seizure of Russia's Yukos oil company a decade ago.

EU-Digest

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