WILLIAM Ross’s clamjamfray of partial misinformation on our position regarding the European Union and the forthcoming independence referendum (Letters, February 14) needs untangling – and should be set in stark contrast to the consistent desire of the most prominent of EU leaders, for example, Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s chosen negotiator on Brexit, for Scotland to remain a member of the EU.
Firstly, Jacqueline Minor, the chief representative for the European Commission, made her remarks in answer to a BBC question deliberately phrased to be solely about the situation which might exist if Scotland only voted for independence after the UK had completed its withdrawal process.
That is exactly not what is going to happen. Scotland will have chosen independence well before that process has been completed.
Secondly, there is, indeed, no “queue” for membership. Scotland has been a member for more than 40 years and therefore, inevitably, we have already met, and been for decades part of, the standards of the EU on all matters. The only thing which places any countries in sequence for membership is their progress towards where we have been since 1973.
Thirdly, there is no Spanish government intention of blocking or vetoing Scotland. Spain’s Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, has never made any “veto” threat, for Spain’s objection is to any independence which is illegal under a country’s constitution – as Catalonia’s would be under the terms of the post-Franco constitution. The emerging Spanish “veto” about which the Foreign Minister has recently spoken, is about Spain’s stated unwillingness to vote for any Brexit deal for the UK which includes Gibraltar. A UK problem, but not one for a Scotland which has voted for its independence and whose government seeks to remain in EU membership.
Fourth, and most ludicrous of all, there is not only no requirement for Scotland to adopt the euro, but it is legally impossible for Scotland to do so. Any such decision would, among three other major requirements, only be possible if Scotland had chosen to be a member of the exchange rate mechanism continuously for at least two years beforehand.
The EU has for decades shown itself to be keen to enlarge its ranks, flexible and adaptable in so doing and welcoming to those countries who share its internationalist ideals for the future of our continent. It is rather more likely that Donald Trump will appoint a Syrian refugee as his next national security adviser, than it is that the EU will create difficulties over retaining pro-European Scotland within its ranks.
Professor Nigel Mace
Address supplied
IT WAS with increasing dismay that I watched Jackson Carlaw’s speech to the Scottish Parliament during its Article 50 debate.
He seemed to suggest it should ignore the overwhelming opposition to Brexit from the Scottish people and just get back in their box and do as they are told. This was in shocking contrast to a speech Carlaw gave last May, when backed the case to Remain, saying he would: “be voting for a future that I think is the right one for my sons and for the grandchildren I hope yet to see ...
I want to be an internationalist, not an isolationist”.
Mr Carlaw is MSP for Eastwood. With East Renfrewshire voting far over and above the Scottish average for (74.3 per cent) and with a high voter turnout of 76.1 per cent, I would suggest he is not acting in a manner that reflects those he was elected to represent.
Annette Ireland
Address supplied
INDYREF2 in the middle of Brexit sounds good. Win and it stops May negotiating away Scottish fishing waters and whatever else England has no interest in. Let’s go for it.
Catriona Grigg
Embo
PERHAPS The National should not be quite so cavalier about President Trump. Some of your regular readers are cousins of his. Should we win our independence in about two years’ time, we will be looking for friends abroad. We will have to learn diplomacy very quickly. Diplomacy is simply a word that describes international good manners.
Lesley J Findlay
Fort Augustus
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