| Will we be allowed to stay in the European Union? |
| Wednesday, 18 March 2009 14:51 |
| Scotland is already in the European Union and this will remain the case after Independence. Article 34 of the 1978 Convention on Succession of States in respect of Treaties says: “Any treaty in force at the date of succession of states [i.e. Independence] in respect of the entire territory of the predecessor state continues in force in respect of each successor state so formed.” An example worth noting is that of Greenland. When Greenland gained more autonomy from Denmark in 1979, it had to negotiate to be allowed out of the EU. The 1992 Maastricht Treaty has already conferred on Scots the status of European citizens and the EU will have no more reason to reject an independent Scotland than to reject the independent remainder of the UK. Emile Noêl, former Secretary General of the European Commission, has said: “Scottish Independence would create two new member states out of one. They would have equal status with each other and the other 11 states. The remainder of the United Kingdom would not be in a more powerful position than Scotland.” Eamonn Gallagher, Former Director General of the European Commission and European Community Ambassador to the United Nations backed this view: “In my view, there could be no sustainable legal or political objection to separate Scottish membership of the European Community.” |
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