Banner

  Lawyers for Yes today welcomed authoritative new research which confirms an independent Scotland can continue European Union membership without need to re-apply.
 
Professor Sionaidh Douglas-Scott, professor of European and human rights law at Oxford University, says that under existing European Treaties there is no reason why an independent Scotland’s “uninterrupted membership of the EU” would not be preserved.

In a detailed research paper entitled How easily could an independent Scotland join the EU?, Professor Douglas-Scott concludes that an independent Scotland’s EU membership should be assured, “relatively smooth and straightforward.”

She says this can be achieved by using the treaty amendment procedure of Article 48 of the EU Treaties and would take the form of an internal enlargement.

Professor Douglas-Scott says: “These arguments are made on the basis of EU law itself, which, it is argued, provide all the resources necessary to assure an independent Scotland’s EU membership through EU treaty amendment, and not through a cumbersome accession process as a new member state. In particular, the values, norms and “special ethos” of the EU, expressed in concepts such as EU citizenship, fundamental rights and duties of loyalty, combine to provide a reasoned justification for such internal enlargement.”
 
She says it will be necessary for negotiations to commence immediately upon a Yes vote in the independence referendum.

Joanna Cherry QC, a founder member and convener of Lawyers for Yes, said: “This research paper, from an eminent and authoritative source, comprehensively supports the views of the Scottish Government and Lawyers For Yes that, as a matter of EU law, Scotland would continue to be a member of the EU after a Yes vote.”

Ms Cherry added: “Voters should appreciate that the real threat to their continuing citizenship of the EU and all the rights that go with it comes from a No vote. If we stay with the UK an in/out referendum will inevitably follow with the likely result  that Scotland will be taken out of the EU, against the wishes of the people who live here.”

Comments  

 
# UpSpake 2014-07-08 07:47
The matter of membership of the EU is not being put to the people in September, they are being asked to vote for self-determination as a nation.
The question of membership of the EU is a matter for another day unless of-course you are a member of Euromove a sinister movement now being funded by the EU but originaly established by the CIA.
I see Euromove activists at both SNP events and Yes events, they are intertwined. This is why the Yes campaign promote the EU and conflate it with a Yes vote. We are endorsing no such thing September 18th we are only voting on one issue – independence.
Whilst membership of the EU might be the mypoic view of the SNP there are many people like myself who want nothing to do with this body and would rather see Scotland make alliances with other less costly organisations such as EFTA.
Since nobody has properly explained the benefits of the Union to me, neither have they the benefits of being part of the EU.
 
 
# Marga B 2014-07-08 17:54
See recent statement on Scottish independence by Sandro Gozi, European Minister of Italy, now host of Presidency of the EU, and “diplomatic sources”.

“The agreed secession of part of the territory of a Member State would be a first for the club. Scotland and the EU could find themselves facing “several scenarios”, add these sources, and not just one, as the European Commission has stated on several occasions.

“There is room for “some nuances”, they say. Any political decision taken, admit diplomatic sources, must be based on a sound interpretation of the European treaties. Perhaps the European Commission has been too forthright in its response, add these sources.”

lavanguardia.com/…/…

Any reference to this story I’ve seen in the UK press calls it insistence on neutrality, while in Catalonia at least it’s being seen as a new development.
 

You must be logged-in in order to post a comment.

Banner

Donate to Newsnet Scotland

Banner

Latest Comments