Scotland to reapply for EU membership after independence

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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First Minister, Alex Salmond today assured that secret legal advice about the prospect of an independent Scotland automatically remaining within the European Union will be made public.

The Scottish Government is currently fighting a demand from Scotland’s Information Commissioner, Rosemary Agnew to reveal whether it has received any advice on the issue.

The SNP insists that Scotland would remain EU member after independence because it has been a member for the last 40 years, but this was thrown into doubt yesterday when EU president, Juan Manuel Barroso indicated that after partition, the new states would have to reapply for membership.

Jose Manuel Barroso said: “A new state, if it wants to join the EU, has to apply to become a member of the EU, like any state.”

Opposition leaders today stepped up calls for Mr. Salmond to publish his legal advice at First Ministers Questions in Parliament.

Labour leader, Johann Lamont said the First Minister so far “fails to provide a single shred of evidence” on the subject.

Mr. Salmond assured that when the white paper on independence is published in a year’s time, “these areas of continuing European membership for an independent Scotland will be examined in great detail”.

He said this would happen “a full year before the decision on the referendum”.

He stated: “Everything in that white paper will be fully consistent and informed by the legal advice that we receive.”

But Ms. Lamont said the Government was already spending £100,000 to keep this information out of the public domain.

She has further added: “One has to ask the question, what’s the First Minister got to hide?”

If Scotland was forced to re-apply for entry to the EU, it would likely to be forced to adopt the troubled Euro currency, instead of the pound which the SNP want to keep.

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