Braveheart gets caught out
Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2012 4:38 pm
Looks like Salmond has comprehensively been found out. First he tried to blag his way with the rest of the SNP saying that there was absolutely no question that an independent Scotland would remain as part of the EU. He even made out that he had legal advice which backed up this view.
Alas for Salmond, Barroso the President of the European Commission has crushed all of that:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-s ... s-20664907
Barroso stated
"What I said, and it is our doctrine and it is clear since 2004 in legal terms, if one part of a country - I am not referring now to any specific one - wants to become an independent state, of course as an independent state it has to apply to the European membership according to the rules - that is obvious." Asked whether an independent country would have to renegotiate its terms, Mr Barroso said: "Yes.". When further asked whether that negotiation would be from "inside" the EU, the president responded: "We are a union of states, so if there is a new state, of course, that state has to apply for membership and negotiate the conditions with other member states". For European Union purposes, from a legal point of view, it is certainly a new state. If a country becomes independent it is a new state and has to negotiate with the EU."
And it is worth pointing out that pretty much every European state that has joined the EU in the last decade or so has been asked to join the euro. And I am sure that any new state joining the EU would have to adhere to the federal approach to fiscal matters that the EU is going down.
I can see more trouble ahead for Alex and Nicola. You've been found out!
Alas for Salmond, Barroso the President of the European Commission has crushed all of that:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-s ... s-20664907
Barroso stated
"What I said, and it is our doctrine and it is clear since 2004 in legal terms, if one part of a country - I am not referring now to any specific one - wants to become an independent state, of course as an independent state it has to apply to the European membership according to the rules - that is obvious." Asked whether an independent country would have to renegotiate its terms, Mr Barroso said: "Yes.". When further asked whether that negotiation would be from "inside" the EU, the president responded: "We are a union of states, so if there is a new state, of course, that state has to apply for membership and negotiate the conditions with other member states". For European Union purposes, from a legal point of view, it is certainly a new state. If a country becomes independent it is a new state and has to negotiate with the EU."
And it is worth pointing out that pretty much every European state that has joined the EU in the last decade or so has been asked to join the euro. And I am sure that any new state joining the EU would have to adhere to the federal approach to fiscal matters that the EU is going down.
I can see more trouble ahead for Alex and Nicola. You've been found out!