|
|
Home
|
Independent Scotland would be forced to accept the Euro |
|
|
|
Wednesday, 22 August 2007 |
An independent Scotland would be forced to use the Euro if it wanted to join the European Union as a sovereign country, according to the Scottish Conservatives.
The Tories have made the claim after investigating EU rules regarding new accession countries. They say that all ten states who acceded to the EU in 2004 were obliged to accept the single currency as part of the terms of their entry.
Britain and Denmark are the only two full EU members that do not use the Euro, a status granted during the 1992 Maastricht Treaty negotiations.
Conservative deputy leader Murdo Fraser said the SNP would face great difficulty in convincing the electorate to support independence if it meant giving up Sterling, and that business would suffer greatly if such a currency change occurred.
“This revelation blows a hole in Alex Salmond’s case for independence. He has been trying to tell the Scottish people that if we were independent we could choose whether or not to join the Euro and there would be a referendum to decide the issue.
“It is now clear that we would have no choice in the matter and that membership of the Euro would be an automatic consequence of independence. There is absolutely no guarantee that the special status enjoyed by the UK would automatically transfer to an independent Scotland. This would create a very damaging situation for Scottish businesses, where they would be operating with a different currency from their major markets in the rest of the UK. Alex Salmond needs to stop misleading the Scottish people and now come clean, admitting that as an independent Scotland, we would have no choice but to join the Euro.”
Readers have left 3 comments. 1. Mr
Alex Cox, Unregistered Complete disinformation on the part of the Tories.
First of all, the accession rules apply to countries which are not presently a member of the EU - unlike Scotland, which is and has been now for 34 years.
Second of all, the line about business suffering greatly is just nonsense. Presently Bank of England base rates are 5.75%. ECB base rates are 4.00%, so by joining the Euro we would immediately see a massive rate cut of 175 base points. How exactly would this be 'damaging for business' Murdo? As someone who runs a business I would like to know why Mr Fraser feels competent enough to speak for my interests when he obviously hasn't a clue.
As for the idea that by operating a different currency from the rest of the UK would somehow provide a barrier for Scottish businesses - frankly, that such bilge can go unquestioned by journalists beggars belief. I don't know if Murdo has noticed, but in the past couple of years, companies using this 'different currency' have managed to take over Scottish Power, Powergen, O2, the BAA, Abbey National and Allied Domecq amongst others, with virtually no traffic in the other direction.
I do wish the Tories would stop attempting to disguise their obvious Europhobic attitudes with a pretence to economic competence. They have none left - it's simply gone the way of their credibility and electability, in pursuit of their continuing worship of the dreaded 300 year-old piece of paper. 2. Independent Scotland would be forced to accept the Euro
Anon, Unregistered The Holyrood story says that UK and Denmark are the only "full EU members" that don't use the Euro.
Many countries (who are no less "full members" than any other) do not use the Euro - most because they have yet to meet the economic conditions. Sweden voted not to adopt the Euro and so still has its own currency even though it would otherwise be admitted into the Eurozone. 3. Independent Scotland would be forced to accept the Euro
Anon, Unregistered If Scotland is to be classed as a "new accession country", then so also would be the Rump British State that would result from Scottish Independence. If Murdo Fraser is to be consistent then both "new accession countries" will be compelled to join the Euro.
Scotland and the rest of the UK is however already in the EU, so I fail to see where Murdo is coming from on this one. The exact terms of our relationship with the EU, including initial currencies, will be negotiated as part of the Independence settlement. If the peoples of Scotland want to join the Euro at a later date they will vote for it in a referendum.
Related news items:
|
Site news...
Have your say: We have introduced a comments system in our news and magazine article sections, submit your comments for approval. Your comments will feature in the "Your comments" section.
|
|
|
