Scotland’s constitutional status is once again in question after Nicola Sturgeon’s second referendum plan received Scottish Parliament backing.
The First Minister justified a bid for a second vote within five years by pointing to the UK’s imminent exit from The European Union, which was formally triggered on March 29 2017.
If the SNP’s independence dream is fulfilled, what would happen to an independent Scotland’s EU membership?
Spain’s foreign minister Alfonso Dastis claimed Scotland would have to leave the union and join a “queue” to return. This was also supported in a comment by Scottish Conservative MSP and constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins, who said an independent Scotland would “join the back of the queue” for EU membership.
A Google search shows the claim is repeated throughout the UK press.
After investigating these claims, The Ferret Fact Service found no evidence of a formal queuing system to enter the European Union. So would Scotland have to wait until the other countries were processed before being allowed back in? The short answer is No.
Evidence
It’s very likely that Scotland will be leaving the EU whether it remains part of the UK or goes its own way.
While it is not impossible that member states could agree to continue Scotland’s membership if a referendum was held before Brexit had concluded, many legal experts doubt Scotland could remain inside through some sort of special deal. Assuming no special deal is in place, an independent Scotland would find it very difficult to conclude the normal negotiations before the UK leaves.
There is no direct precedent for a country remaining in the EU after separation from a previous member, and the position of a number of EU officials is that Scotland would not automatically stay in the UK’s place.
In 2012, then European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso explained the position in a letter on Scotland’s position. In March, a European Commission spokesperson confirmed it would still apply.
In other words, if Scotland left the UK (before Brexit was concluded) it would not keep EU status.
So the Scottish Government would have to apply for membership of the EU through Article 49, the formal process of gaining member status.
This is by no means a straightforward process and will likely take years to complete, although many EU authorities and officials expect Scotland to be well placed to enter. While it has been suggested Spain could block a Scottish application in an attempt to quell its own secessionist movement, Mr Dastis has confirmed there would be no such veto.
The claims by the Spanish foreign minister and Mr Tomkins that Scotland will be in a ‘queue’ do not accurately portray the process of EU accession, as a look at the most recent EU expansion reveals.
How does a country join the European Union?An applicant country to the EU must go through three broad stages:
1) Firstly it must be accepted as a candidate.
2) It must then enter formal negotiations, which require the adoption of EU law and preparations to enforce it together with any other reforms necessary to meet membership conditions.
3) After these are agreed by the existing member states it may then join.
This is known as adoption of the acquis, which is the ‘body of common rights and obligations’ binding EU member states together.
There are currently five countries with official candidate status – Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey.
The most recent country to join the EU was Croatia, which finally joined on July 1, 2013 after applying in 2003.
But Turkey remains in negotiation to become a member despite applying for the then-European Economic Community in 1987, and being declared eligible for EU integration in 1997.
This is down to Turkey having not yet adopted criteria set out in their ongoing negotiation to become members. Each negotiation area is not completed until every EU government is satisfied.
Iceland also ‘overtook’ them in its negotiations to join, before requesting not to be considered a candidate country in 2015.
The point is explicitly dealt with on the European Commission’s website.
It is clear then that there is no formal queue for candidate nations to join. That does not mean, however, that the process of joining will necessarily run entirely smoothly.
Ferret Fact Service Verdict: FALSE
The claims from Alfonso Dastis and Adam Tomkins are not accurate. An independent Scotland would not have to wait in a queue for the rest of the current candidates to be processed. The system of entry to the European Union is dependent on fulfilling the criteria for membership to the satisfaction of EU member countries, not on a first-come first-served basis.
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The Scottish Conservatives did not respond to a request to provide evidence for Adam Tomkins’ claim.
Photos thanks to Euseson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons and Håkan Dahlström, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
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