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Would Separate Scotland Stay In EU |
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Wednesday, 25 January 2012 |
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Ruth Davidson MSP |
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In 2007 the SNP published a document asserting that an "independent Scotland would continue in the EU". Today, Alex Salmond once again stated that Scotland would not be an accession country to the EU and that it would simply renegotiate its position. However, a wealth of legal opinion has stated that if Scotland became an independent sovereign state it would have to reapply to be a member of the EU. Ruth Davidson said:
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SNP urged to publish advice on whether separate Scotland would remain part of EU |
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"If Alex Salmond is so sure of his position, then why does he not produce the evidence that backs up his assertion that Scotland would gain automatic succession to the EU.
"The First Minister believes that him saying something often enough makes it become fact but the Scottish people deserve a proper answer rather than just his continual bluster. "The weight of expert opinion states an independent Scotland would have to re-apply to become a member of the European Union. "Alex Salmond needs to start coming up with the hard facts of what separation would actually mean for the Scottish people. "The electorate and Scotland deserve nothing less." |
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Speaking to Dermot Murnaghan on Sky News this morning, Alex Salmond said Scotland is not going to be an accession country to the EU. Instead, he said he would negotiate Scotland's position from within the EU. THE LEGAL POSITION – Quotes Romano Prodi, Former European Commission President "a newly independent region would, by the fact of its independence, become a third country with respect to the Union and the treaties would, from the day of its independence, not apply anymore on its territory." [2004 European Parliamentary reply to a question by Welsh Labour MEP Eluned Morgan] Joe Borg, European Commissioner for Fisheries "legally speaking, the continuation of the membership would remain with the rest of the UK - less Scotland. And, therefore, Scotland, as a newly independent state, would have to apply for membership." ['Independent Scotland would have to apply to join EU', The Scotsman, 19 September 2007] Prof Robert Hazell, Professor of British Politics and Government, UCL "Scotland would have to re-apply for membership of the EU" ['Rites of secession', The Guardian, 29 July 2008] Dr Jo Murkens, European and Constitutional Law Expert, LSE "There is no automatic right to membership of the European Union. State succession to treaties has to be governed by the nature of the treaty. Continued cover by the EU Treaty of the Scottish territory would thus only be possible with the approval of all Member States." ['Scotland's Place in Europe', UCL Constitution Unit (2001) http://www.ucl.ac.uk/spp/publications/unit-publications/68.pdf] Dr Lorand Bartels, Lecturer in International and EU law, Univ of Cambridge "Both as a matter of international law and as a matter of EU law, Scotland would have to negotiate its accession to the EU as a new member state." [H. Macdonell, Doubts over automatic EU entry for an independent Scotland, The Scotsman, 8 January 2007] Prof Matthew Happold, Professor in International Public Law, Univ of Luxembourg "Scotland would have to negotiate the terms of its accession to the European Union. Given that an independent Scotland would have considerably less political clout in Brussels than the UK has had to date, Scotland may well lose some of the benefits that it enjoyed as part of the United Kingdom." [M. Happold, Scotland Europa: independence in Europe? (1999) http://www.cer.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/attachments/pdf/2011/cerwp2-2807.pdf ] Professor Andrew Hughes Hallet, University of St Andrews School of Economics "All new members of the EU are required to join the Euro eventually and it is not clear that there are grounds to argue that Scotland has the right to inherit the UK's current Euro opt out." ['Scotland's economic future', Reform Scotland (2011), http://reformscotland.com/public/publications/scotlandseconomicfuture.pdfp. 87-88 ] Neil Mitchison – Head of the European Commission's office in Scotland "The situation is unprecedented and therefore negotiations would be needed." [H. Macdonell, 'Doubts over automatic EU entry for an independent Scotland', The Scotsman, 8 January 2007] Lord Kerr of Kinlochard – British diplomat and Secretary-General of the Convention on the Future of Europe "If Scotland was to become independent, it would have to leave the EU and reapply to get back in." ['Diplomat warns of US 'horror' over Scottish independence', The Scotsman - 26 September 2008] International Law Commission "A new State is not entitled automatically to become a party to the constituent treaty and a member of the organisation as a successor State simply by reason of the fact that at the date of the succession its territory was subject to the treaty and within the ambit of the organisation." [Commentary to Article 4 of the Vienna Convention 1978, International Law Commission, 1974] |