Independent Scotland 'would find it extremely difficult to join EU'
Source: The Guardian
Independent Scotland 'would find it extremely difficult to join EU'
Rajeev Syal
theguardian.com, Sunday 16 February 2014 11.36 GMT
It would be "difficult, if not impossible" for an independent Scotland to become a member of the European Union, the European commission president, José Manuel Barroso, has said.
The statement will be seen as a blow to the hopes of the Scottish nationalists who claim the country would join the EU in the event of a yes vote in September's referendum.
Barroso told the Andrew Marr Show that member states seeking to prevent their own semi-autonomous regions from seceding would almost certainly block Scotland's membership. He said Scotland would have to apply for EU membership in the usual way.
"It will be extremely difficult to get the approval of all the other member states to have a new member coming from one member state," he said.
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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/16/independent-scotland-extremely-difficult-join-eu