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Making sure Scotland's voice is heard loud and clear in Europe



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Linda Fabiani Minister for Europe, external affairs and culture
TODAY is Europe Day, an opportunity for us to consider the wide-ranging impact that the European Union has on Scots, our businesses and our lives.

It is therefore timely for me to outline our plans for the EU, and Europe more generally. Our intent...



The full article contains 522 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 08 May 2008 10:29 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Sierra Foothills Scot,

Diamond Springs 09/05/2008 02:51:18
TODAY might well be Europe Day, but Europe comprises many countries that are not in the European Union. Minister Fabiani should not restrict our consideration to the European Union. Although the European Union (amongst the other, larger, European organisations) is valuable in many respects, it would be a disastrous mistake for an independent Scotland to rush into immediate membership.
The European Union differs from all the other European organisations in that it is now setting out to be a supranational (and not simply international) institution. It is a political project for the creation of a European state that far exceeds the limits of what was approved by the Scottish electorate in the 1975 referendum. The implications of this have not yet sunk in.
The policy ought to be for an independent Scotland to remain a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), in order to obtain uninterrupted access to the Single European Market, and then rejoin the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) as well as taking up membership of the intergovernmental (and hence unproblematical) Council of Europe (CoE), the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), amongst others.
After a decade, say, the question of EU membership could be considered afresh in the light of developments. By that time Scotland would be in complete control of its own fishing and agriculture, etc., and in conjunction with the other EFTA countries would be in an incomparably more powerful position to negotiate.
2

Dr. James Wilkie,

Pszczyna, Poland 09/05/2008 05:57:07
#1 I entirely agree. The SNP's primitive hang-up on the EU, as if it were to be equated with "Europe", is a puzzling feature of what is in so many other ways progressive and forward-looking party policy. The EU is not and will never be "Europe". A large part of the the original "European Idea" has already been overtaken by developments at the level of world government, and much of the rest will become redundant in time as the transitional situations it has been set up to deal with gradually come to an end.

There are immense dangers in the highly undemocratic EU structure, especially those ominous powers emerging from the Lisbon treaty. The real power is in the hands of a small unelected oligarchy with the wires pulled by large multinational interests. In effect it is the triumph of turbocapitalism, as economic power is centralised in Brussels away from interference by the common herd, while the influence and profits of the real power brokers are maximised.

It defeats me to see how a party with socialist leanings can possibly approve such a system, let alone advocate Scottish membership. As #1 states, Scotland's interests will be quite adequately catered for in the European Economic Area in the shorter term until the greater European community transcending the EU comes into being within the next few years. Until then, Scotland would be well advised to steer well clear of the EU - and in any case the relevant decision will be taken by the Scottish people, and not by the SNP.
3

Unimpressed one,

09/05/2008 08:20:15
Ms Fabiana might be wetting herself at the prospect of her plans for Europe and our place within it. Pity the EU citizens can't decide on this as opposed to a handful of unelected teat-suckers.
4

Hilary,

Edinburgh 09/05/2008 11:58:59
"unelected teat-suckers"?!

Marvellous.

Almost as democratic and representative then as the half a dozen smart a***s on here every day, myself included.
5

EWB,

UK 09/05/2008 16:53:07
Spot the paradox: "Scotland as an independent member state within the EU." Do these spin doctors actually believe their own rhetoric or, like Ken Clarke, don't they read the treaties?

What is the Minister's take on Article 176a of the Lisbon Treaty? It will give the EU power for the first time over the whole field of energy and over Britain's, including Scotland's, oil and gas reserves. On this article alone, Scotland has every reason not to seek an ever closer union with the EU. Otherwise: yesterday, the fish stocks: tomorrow, the oil reserves.

 

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