An open letter to proponents of Scottish independence

Jul 16, 2010 11:03

I've been living in Scotland for nearly six consecutive years now (around ten years in total), and in that time I've become increasingly open to the ideas that
  1. a viable independent Scotland is possible,
  2. in the event of Scotland becoming independent, I might well choose to become a Scottish citizen¹.
There's a kind of baseline respect for the life of ( Read more... )

subjects i know nothing about, politics, scotland, environmentalism

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nwhyte July 16 2010, 15:22:47 UTC
The EU question is somewhat untested waters. The tidiest solution is for both Scotland and EWNI to be considered as successor states and thus partners in the Treaty. But there are a number of reasons why that might not fly.

On the other hand, if Scotland is regarded as a non-EU member trying to join, then it is in an even easier negotiating position than Iceland, whose talks, to start imminently, will take only a few months; and bridging arrangements for funding programmes can certainly be found in the meantime.

The demonstration effect: elmyra didn't mention that I was also rather closely involved with Montenegro and Kosovo at the time of their independence. One could not describe the general reaction of European states to the news that they have another one in their company as ecstatic. But at the end of the day one has to accept a legal and democratic solution ( ... )

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pozorvlak July 16 2010, 17:55:55 UTC
Interesting - thanks very much! So, you don't take the "secessionist region" possibility seriously, then - or rather, you think it would be outweighed by the other factors you mention?

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necaris July 16 2010, 21:56:09 UTC
I'd also be interested in further thoughts on this -- I don't know very much about the general attitude of member states to the EFA's member organizations and their goals.

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nwhyte July 17 2010, 05:27:42 UTC
Yes. I think that in the run-up to any referendum there would certainly be senior EU figures who would be easily lured into giving unhelpful quotes to the media, because that's what happens every time. But in the end it's a decision for the people of Scotland.

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necaris July 17 2010, 15:03:54 UTC
But in the end it's a decision for the people of Scotland

What about their acceptance into the EU?

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