Scotland could rejoin EU but not UK

[gosub]

The EU would be open to Scotland joining but 'very reluctant' to let the UK return, expert says

An EU expert has claimed that Scotland could be welcomed back into the European Union but would be reluctant to accept the rest of the UK.

www.indy100.com

Are they taking the piss or what? After last summer?

 

[Teaboy]

Who cares? Seriously with everything else going on in the world who gives a fuck what some bureaucrat fuckwit is chatting shit about?

Enough threads about this shit already.

 

[DownwardDog]

Scotland would have a very rapid EU accession I reckon. If only to annoy the new United Kingdom of England and Wales.

 

[scifisam]

Who cares? Seriously with everything else going on in the world who gives a fuck what some bureaucrat fuckwit is chatting shit about?

Enough threads about this shit already.

Freedom of movement is going to matter at some point. The entire world hasn't stopped.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Frankly any big country applying to join the EU, whether it is Turkey or Ukraine or the UK, is always much more problematic usually than a smaller country.

Total rubbish. The UK can rejoin the EU totally seamlessly if both sides want it. The whole infrastructure for it is already there. If anything the headaches would be for Scotland as it would open up the freedom of movement question.

This 'expert' is the the former director of Scottish Centre on Europe Relations, whatever that is. No shit that she would say this.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Some Scot, who used to head-up some Scottish pro-EU think tank, expresses a personal view in a pro-EU rag, with hardly any readers.

It's just agenda driven dribble, it's certainly not news nor worthy of discussion TBH.

 

[tim]

Scotland would have a very rapid EU accession I reckon. If only to annoy the new United Kingdom of England and Wales.

Spain, would veto any such attempt.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Spain, would veto any such attempt.

Spain would do whatever the Germans told them to do.

 

[tim]

Spain would do whatever the Germans told them to do.

Or whatever the French tell them not to do

 

[Ted Striker]

Scotland would have a very rapid EU accession I reckon. If only to annoy the new United Kingdom of England and Wales.

I always assume this to be the turn of events, tbh. Good luck to them!

 

[equationgirl]

Scotland has always been open to rejoining the EU separate to Brexit. This is not really need, it's been discussed repeatedly prior to today with no real decision other than yes, we're open to it.

 

[tim]

Scotland has always been open to rejoining the EU separate to Brexit. This is not really need, it's been discussed repeatedly prior to today with no real decision other than yes, we're open to it.

The issue isn't that an independent Scotland might want to rejoin: its whether the EU would want it to.

 

[two sheds]

I'm sure Johnson will say there'll be no need for customs offices at the border.

 

[tim]

I'm sure Johnson will say there'll be no need for customs offices at the border.

I'm sure he won't need a passport to enter an independent Scotland., as long as he has a suitable means of transport.

 

[fishfinger]

I'm sure he won't need a passport to enter an independent Scotland., as long as he has a suitable means of transport.

Thatcher's let herself go.

 

[DownwardDog]

Spain, would veto any such attempt.

The Spanish veto was always predicated on the fact that the UK would return the favour for Catalonia. The UK are now in no position to reciprocate.

The French foreign minister recently said that Scotland would have 'sa propre place' (it's own place) inside the EU.

 

[not-bono-ever]

Spain wouldn’t block entry is Scotland

 

[Poi E]

Spain, would veto any such attempt.

Spain doesn't give a fuck if a non-EU nation splits. Wouldn't set any precedent for Catalonia.

The level of debate on this shit. Massive fucking existential crisis coming up for England and people think it's a Scottish problem.

 

[tim]

Spain doesn't give a fuck if a non-EU nation splits. Wouldn't set any precedent for Catalonia.

The level of debate on this shit. Massive fucking existential crisis coming up for England and people think it's a Scottish problem.

It would set a precedent if the Scots were rewarded with EU membership for doing so. I think you underestimate quite how hard-line the Spanish government is.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

It would set a precedent if the Scots were rewarded with EU membership for doing so. I think you underestimate quite how hard-line the Spanish government is.

The current Spanish government isn't hard-line on this issue. It has pulled back from suggestions of rewriting the constitution, which junior partner Podemos used to advocate, and which would be needed for Catalonia to secede. But within PSOE or Podemos, there is no love for, let alone fierce loyalty to, the idea of the sacred 'united and indivisible' Spain that is mentioned in the constitution, which, as part of a compromise between left and right, was a sop to the right. (It's an ironic word to use for a country that is as politically divided as Spain.)

Among the first statements in office in 2018 from the new Minister of Regional Administration (a dry name for such a contentious job) were that "The territorial pact from the ‘78 constitution is in crisis, nobody can deny it". From here

A two-thirds majority is needed in parliament to change the constitution, giving the PP an effective veto, but the current government isn't hardline unionist. They leave that to the neo-Francoists.

 

[Poi E]

It would set a precedent if the Scots were rewarded with EU membership for doing so. I think you underestimate quite how hard-line the Spanish government is.

The EU and every other country has a vested interest in breaking the UK. Even the US doesn't care since it announced the UK was taking the new nukes. Bought and sold. All alone and to be contained with a future EU army on its border with Scotland. The UK sets no precedent but for arrogance and stupidity.

 

[JHE]

If the Scots are bold or bloody-minded enough to become independent, I expect the EU would love at have Scotland back in the fold and joining the Eurozone.

But leaving a UK that is no longer in the EU and (quite probably) doesn't have a good trade deal with the EU sounds pretty foolhardy. If it is a bad idea for the UK to leave a trading block that accounts for 40% (?) of its trade, how good an idea would it be for Scotland to leave a country which accounts for the bulk (60%?) of Scotland's trade beyond the borders of Scotland?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

The EU and every other country has a vested interest in breaking the UK. Even the US doesn't care since it announced the UK was taking the new nukes. Bought and sold. All alone and to be contained with a future EU army on its border with Scotland. The UK sets no precedent but for arrogance and stupidity.

That's exceedingly remote as a possibility at the moment. One thing covid19 has shown us is that the individual countries of the EU revert to national borders and interests very quickly come a crisis.

But in the realm of not-so-remote possibilities, there would be major practical problems for an independent Scotland wanting both to join the EU and to keep an open border with post-Brexit England. Answers on a postcard as to how that could work. The EU's openness or not to Scotland rejoining would be the least of Scotland's problems.

 

[Saul Goodman]

But in the realm of not-so-remote possibilities, there would be major practical problems for an independent Scotland wanting both to join the EU and to keep an open border with post-Brexit England. Answers on a postcard as to how that could work. The EU's openness or not to Scotland rejoining would be the least of Scotland's problems.

Scotland should invade England, with a little help from the Welsh.

 

[Raheem]

If it is a bad idea for the UK to leave a trading block that accounts for 40% (?) of its trade, how good an idea would it be for Scotland to leave a country which accounts for the bulk (60%?) of Scotland's trade beyond the borders of Scotland?

It's not perfectly analogous, though, because when the UK (properly) leaves the EU it is likely to immediately find itself at competitive disadvantage when trading with EU countries. Scotland leaving the UK would probably mean new barriers to trade, but it would still be at a competitive advantage in trading with the shrunken version of the UK, because other countries would face the same barriers but Scotland would be geographically and culturally closer.

Which is not to say it's a good idea, just to critique the analogy.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

It's not perfectly analogous, though, because when the UK (properly) leaves the EU it is likely to immediately find itself at competitive disadvantage when trading with EU countries. Scotland leaving the UK would probably mean new barriers to trade, but it would still be at a competitive advantage in trading with the shrunken version of the UK, because other countries would face the same barriers but Scotland would be geographically and culturally closer.

Which is not to say it's a good idea, just to critique the analogy.

This all sounds politically and practically unlikely, but Scotland leaving the UK would almost certainly be a mostly symbolic move at first. It would still be closely federated to rumpUK and would have no barriers to trade at all, while enjoying the same trade deals with the rest of the world as rUK.

If it then wanted to move from federation with rUK to federation with the EU, the practicalities of that would probably be harder that the practicalities of the initial independence, and just as potentially divisive.

 

[ffsear]

They need to be part of one of the unions or they'd be fucked. They would have to take on the EURO also.

 

[Idris2002]

Scotland would have a very rapid EU accession I reckon. If only to annoy the new United Kingdom of England and Wales.

The Spanish veto was always predicated on the fact that the UK would return the favour for Catalonia. The UK are now in no position to reciprocate.

The French foreign minister recently said that Scotland would have 'sa propre place' (it's own place) inside the EU.

The last issue of Le Monde I saw had what I at first thought was a double page advert from the Scottish tourist board, or whatever it's called. . . . I looked again and the slogan was something like "Europe we are with you", and it was directly from the govt. in Holyrood. . .

 

[Idris2002]

Scotland should invade England, with a little help from the Welsh.

That mighty force the Free Wales Army, who dumped all the guns they bought from the 'ra in a lake near Cardiff?

 

[Sue]

The last issue of Le Monde I saw had what I at first thought was a double page advert from the Scottish tourist board, or whatever it's called. . . . I looked again and the slogan was something like "Europe we are with you", and it was directly from the govt. in Holyrood. . .

That's not exactly a revelation.