Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon has denied reports that an independent Scotland would only be able to join the European Union if it joined the euro.
Reported by timeswhich relies on four different EU sources, says a Scottish application for EU membership will be rejected unless the country commits to joining the euro.
Speaking to lawmakers in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday (27 October), Sturgeon reiterated that EU members were not forced to join the single currency.
“Not all EU countries will join the euro,” she said, quoting former Prime Minister David Cameron.
“The reality is that if Scotland secedes from the UK and does not agree to join the euro, it will be refused entry,” said Scottish Conservative Party leader Douglas Ross.
“Who is lying to the Scottish people, the European Union or Nicola Sturgeon?”
Although joining the European Union’s single currency is a standard requirement for new potential members, Sturgeon and colleagues claim Scottish National Party (SNP) that an independent Scotland would initially hold the British pound “until the time is right to pass on to the Scottish pound”. This position is similar to that of Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom before their decision to leave the EU. From a purely legal point of view, however, Sweden would also be obligated to join the euro at some point.
Presenting a position paper on Scotland’s post-independence economy, published earlier this month, Sturgeon stressed that joining the euro was not “the right choice for Scotland”. However, the SNP government has indicated that it will aim to join the EU’s Schengen area.
Sturgeon has put the prospect of rejoining the European Union at the center of her campaign ahead of the second referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom next September. In the 2016 Brexit referendum, Scots voted to remain in the European Union by a nearly two-to-one majority. So the sturgeon argued that Scotland had left the Union against its will.
“The future that the vast majority of people in Scotland want, which is to remain in the European Union, is only possible for Scotland if we become independent,” she said on Thursday.
However, the path to Scotland’s EU membership is uncertain even if voters vote for independence. It is not clear whether the Scottish application for EU membership will be accelerated, although with more than 40 years of EU law in its statute, there will not be much work for Scotland to come to terms with the union’s legal gains.
SNP Treasury Secretary John Sweeney said last week that the expected timeline for EU re-entry would be 10 years, although EU officials declined to comment on the default situation.
[Bearbeitet von Nathalie Weatherald]
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