Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon has dismissed reports that an independent Scotland would only be able to join the EU if it joined the euro.
in a report by TimesWhich is based on four different EU sources, say a Scottish application for membership will be rejected unless the country has committed to joining the euro.
Speaking to MPs in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday (27 October), Sturgeon reiterated that EU members were not forced to join a single currency.
“Not all EU countries will join the euro,” she said, citing former prime minister David Cameron.
“The reality is that if Scotland, separated from the UK, does not agree to join the euro, they will be refused entry,” said Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross.
“Who is lying to the Scottish people – the European Union or Nicola Sturgeon?” He added.
Although joining the EU’s single currency is a standard requirement for new potential members, Sturgeon and his claim Scottish National Party (SNP) that an independent Scotland would initially keep the British pound “until the time is right to switch to the Scottish pound”. This situation is similar to that of Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom before the decision to leave the union. From a purely legal point of view, however, Sweden will also be obliged to join the euro at a certain point.
Presenting a position paper on Scotland’s post-independence economy published earlier this month, Sturgeon insisted that joining the euro was not “the right choice for Scotland”. However, the SNP government has indicated that it will aim to join the Schengen Area of the European Union.
Sturgeon has put the prospect of EU re-entry at the center of his campaign ahead of the second referendum on Scotland’s independence from Britain next September. In the 2016 Brexit referendum, Scots voted to remain in the EU with a nearly two to one majority. Sturgeon has therefore argued that Scotland was expelled from the Union against his will.
“The future that most people in Scotland want, which is to stay in the European Union, is possible for Scotland only when we become independent,” she said on Thursday.
However, the path to Scottish EU membership remains uncertain, even if voters vote for independence. It is unclear whether a Scottish application for EU membership will be expedited, although its statute has done little to align with the EU’s more than 40 years of legislation to align with the legal acquisition of the union for Scotland. Will happen.
SNP Treasury Secretary John Swinney said last week that the expected deadline for EU re-entry would be 10 years, although EU officials have declined to comment on the hypothetical situation.
[Bearbeitet von Nathalie Weatherald]