Spin, hypocrisy and the SNP’s desperate last throw of the EU dice

SNP deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon has embarked on what can only be described as an exercise in full frontal-spin at best and rank hypocrisy at worst.

Scottish deputy first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, used the weekend to embark on what can only be described as an exercise in full frontal-spin at best and rank hypocrisy at worst.

Using an essay in the Scotland on Sunday newspaper in which she made a direct appeal to those favouring devo-max to vote yes for independence, she wrote of the “damaging uncertainty about our place in the European Union created by David Cameron’s speech last week”.

Indeed, such is the audacity and desperation by the SNP to get its plans for an independent Scotland to join the EU sorted, Sturgeon has taken the unusual step of making an appeal directly to the foreign ministers of each member state.

Just days after the President of the European Commission made clear he would not be meeting the Scottish government to sort the SNP mess out, Sturgeon sought to distance Holyrood from David Cameron, making clear her party’s commitment to the EU.

Concluding Scotland benefits “greatly from the peace and security provided by membership”, she expanded in her letter to foreign ministers:

“I therefore want to assure all member states that following a positive result in the [independence] referendum we would work with the United Kingdom and the rest of the EU in partnership to ensure we continued to play an active part in that community of interest.”

Whilst arguing the SNP felt “certain aspects of the EU” were in need of reform, such as around fishing and carbon emissions, she continued:

“However, we understand those reform ambitions can only be achieved through dialogue with member states from within the EU.

“That is why we do not support the holding of an in/out referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership. We have no intention of leaving the European Union. On the contrary, we will seek to be a constructive member of the union working with other member states to maximise the benefits we have enjoyed as members for over 40 years.”

However warm the words might sound towards the EU, one questions just how committed the SNP really are to a strong Europe when it is prepared to bypass the inconvenient truths coming out of the Commission that an independent Scotland would simply need to join the back of the queue and await its turn to go through the convoluted process of re-applying for membership.

And more questionable still, one wonders just what a letter from Holyrood will actually achieve.

In October, the Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, made crystal clear:

“In the hypothetical case of independence, Scotland would have to join the queue and ask to be admitted, needing the unanimous approval of all member states to obtain the status of a candidate country… and to sign the final treaty [of accession].”

Just last week, as Sturgeon herself was visiting Ireland, the Irish Europe minister – whose government holds the six-monthly rotating presidency of the EU – also backed the suggestions an independent Scotland would need to reapply for membership of Europe’s top club.

Whilst explaining Scotland would be welcome in the EU as a separate nation, speaking to BBC Scotland, Lucinda Creighton explained:

“If Scotland were to become independent, Scotland would have to apply for membership and that can be a lengthy process, as we see even with the very advanced and well-integrated countries like Iceland, where I’ve just come from.

“Iceland is obviously a member of Efta (European Free Trade Association) and had been deeply involved in the single market for many years, but still has a task in terms of transforming its legislation and fitting into the European requirements for membership.

“And that would be the case, I think, for Scotland as well. It may not take as long, but there would be an application and a negotiation process, as there is for any candidate country.”

In the Czech Republic, meanwhile, foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg has warned an independent Scotland would get a worse deal in the EU if it was on its own. Speaking during a recent interview with the BBC, he said Scotland would fare far worse from being a much smaller, less significant member state.

Citing his country’s own experiences Schwarzenberg continued:

“In our own history, as you know, 20 years ago we separated and out of Czechoslovakia there were two independent countries.

“Being a foreign minister I can tell you it has some advantages, but the international weight of both republics together is lesser than the former Czechoslovakia.”

All this on top of the warnings from one former senior diplomat that re-entering the EU after voting for independence would prove “complex and costly” for Scotland.

Writing for Prospect Magazine last week, Lord Kerr, previously head of the British Diplomatic Service and Secretary General of the European Convention, explained:

“So an independent Scotland would need to go through the same accession process as have all but the original six member states, a process which the Croats have just successfully completed, but in which the Turks are bogged down. Readmission would be possible for Scots only when every existing member state had agreed to every detail of the terms.

“And even then an adverse parliamentary or referendum vote on ratification, in any EU capital, could still sink the ship. No wonder the SNP is in denial.”

In declaring David Cameron to be the biggest threat to Scotland’s influence and position within the EU, Nicola Sturgeon has attempted not so successfully to divert attention from the twin threat to Scotland’s position within Europe posed by both Holyrood and Whitehall. Little wonder the Better Together campaign has accused the deputy first minister of not being prepared to take no for an answer.

See also:

More EU woe for slippery Salmond as Barroso shuns SturgeonJanuary 25th, 2013

47 Responses to “Spin, hypocrisy and the SNP’s desperate last throw of the EU dice”

  1. Daniel Key

    We should support Scotland’s democratic wishes for a referendum. I’m saddened to see Left Foot Forward resorting to being a labour mouthpiece / attack dog. Can’t the author see that Scotland is a much more left wing, progressive place to live than England at the moment?

    I can only conclude that you’re being tribal and are fearful of the Labour seats that would be lost if Scotland became independent. The argument above doesn’t stack up and is just trying to slander the SNP instead of putting forward a Labour vision for Scotland (which there clearly isn’t). Don’t know why the editors bothered to cross post it.

  2. Alister Rutherford

    Could someone explain just why LeftFootForward, or at least Ed Jacobs is so hostile to Scottish independence? All we ever seem to get here are rehashed assertions and a consistent attempt to belittle supporters of independence. Just for the record the European Commission’s Vice President has confirmed yet again that “The European Commission has not commented on any specific situation in relation to any Member State and will continue to refrain from doing so.” The Vice President went on to write that ” The European Commission would only be able to express its opinion on the legal consequences under EU law of a specific situation upon request from a Member State detailing a precise scenario.” Which of course the UK government refuses to do. I wonder why? Perhaps they are less than confident of their case? As regards the position of the Republic of Ireland, their European Affairs Minister has already issued a correction and clarification to the way the BBC reported her interview. In it she states that “The EU would adopt a simplified procedure for the negotiations, not the traditional procedure followed for the accession of non-member countries.” Scare stories from what purports to be a left magazine just lessens your credibility on other issues.

  3. Garve Scott-Lodge

    “Scottish deputy first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, used the weekend to embark on what can only be described as an exercise in full frontal-spin at best and rank hypocrisy at worst.”

    Can only be described? I can imagine other ways to describe it. Lets see if I can help you out.

    “Scottish deputy first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, used the weekend to embark on an attempt to reassure European leaders that Scotland and the Scottish Government support the EU and following independence would cooperate with them as an enthusiastic partner.”

    Why is that spin? Why is it hypocrisy? As the EU won’t speak to the Scottish Government, since it’s not a member state, and the UK Government won’t speak to the EU about this, because it doesn’t want to help the Yes campaign, the SNP is left with no option but to make contact with member states individually. I fully support Nicola Sturgeon in doing this, and in fact hope that she does much more. We should issue individual invitations for all EU member states foriegn ministers to visit Holyrood to discuss the future, both in the event of a Yes vote in 2014, and in the event of a subsequent Out vote by the rest of the UK in 2017.

  4. Walton Pantland

    The continual knee jerk anti-independence propaganda on this site is really depressing and makes me far less likely to trust anything else here.

    I am by no means an SNP supporter, but as other comments note, the SNP offer a credible social democratic alternative while Labour promise “an end to something for nothing culture”.

    You’re supposed to be a progressive voice, not a mouthpiece for the Bitter Together campaign.

    Unfollowed.

  5. Erin Van Der Maas

    I agree with Daniel Key…. this is scaremongering – did the DDR have to apply for membership – there might well be some formalities to tie up but I really can’t see the EU asking the Scots to leave and re-apply because if that were the case then the same would apply to what was left of the UK – that would no longer be the UK but something else – and in a similar way would be a new country – so that means England, Wales and NI (whatever it would be called post Scotland independence) would also face the same formalities

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