Legal expert: iScotlands EU membership should be assured after Yes vote. An independent Scotlands membership of the European Union should be assured with a smooth and straightforward transition process after a Yes vote, a legal expert has claimed. Professor Sionaidh Douglas-Scott, a professor of European and human rights law at Oxford University, also argued that Scotland need not go through a cumbersome accession process as a new member state and instead could become an EU member by treaties being amended. The Scottish Government already proposes taking such an approach if there is a vote for independence in Septembers referendum. The Governments White Paper on independence sets out that instead of applying as a new state using Article 49, Scotland could use Article 48, which provides for a Treaty amendment to be agreed by common accord on the part of the representatives of the governments of the member states. The White Paper states this is a suitable legal route to facilitate the transition process, by allowing EU Treaties to be amended through ordinary revision procedure before Scotland becomes independent, to enable it to become a member state at the point of independence. Prof Douglas-Scott backs this approach, stating in a research paper: Despite assertions to the contrary from UK lawyers, EU lawyers and EU officials, any future independent Scotlands EU membership should be assured, and its transition from EU membership qua part of the UK to EU membership qua independent Scotland relatively smooth and straightforward. In other words, it would take the form of an internal enlargement of the EU using the procedure for treaty amendment in Article 48. These arguments are made on the basis of EU law itself, which, it is argued, provide all the resources necessary to assure an independent Scotlands EU membership through EU treaty amendment, and not through a cumbersome accession process as a new member state. While former European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has commented that it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible for an independent Scotland to join the EU, the research paper argues that such statements from EU officials overstate the case considerably, and are unworthy to be considered representative of an EU perspective. The suggestion that an independent Scotland would have to apply for membership as a new state, is not inevitable, and may not even be well reasoned, the paper insists. It concluded: It is argued that the principled and practical route to take, should Scotland choose to become independent in September 2014, is that of Article 48, that deals with Treaty amendment. Proceeding by way of Article 48, as opposed to using Article 49, which would require a full Accession Treaty, would avoid the risk that a newly independent Scotland would be cast into the wilderness, its ties with the EU cut on the date of independence. This would be a form of internal enlargement for the EU, and in this way, Scotlands uninterrupted membership of the EU could be preserved. Joanna Cherry QC, a founder member and convener of the independence-supporting Lawyers for Yes group, said: This research paper, from an eminent and authoritative source, comprehensively supports the views of the Scottish Government and Lawyers for Yes that, as a matter of EU law, Scotland would continue to be a member of the EU after a Yes vote. Voters should appreciate that the real threat to their continuing citizenship of the EU and all the rights that go with it comes from a No vote. If we stay with the UK an in/out referendum will inevitably follow with the likely result that Scotland will be taken out of the EU, against the wishes of the people who live here. But Professor Adam Tomkins of Glasgow University, who is a member of the pro-UK Better Together campaign, said: It is clear that if we leave the UK then we would need to reapply to join the EU. To imagine that an independent Scotland could negotiate and ratify the terms of membership which the Scottish Government are proposing within an 18 month time-frame is hopelessly unrealistic. Membership of the European Union is a hugely important part of this debate, and the Nationalists are doing it a disservice by oversimplifying the questions and scaremongering. How a separate Scotland would join the EU, how quickly it would happen and on what terms are three crucial parts of the debate that simply have not been answered. To pretend otherwise lacks all credibility. heraldscotland/politics/referendum-news/legal-expert-iscotlands-eu-membership-should-be-assured-after-yes-vote.1404742623
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 17:53:04 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015