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If a future Scotland gains independence and then seeks entry to the EU I presume (hah - big talk!) that the EU would require Scotland to adopt the Euro, free mo
by colinb 4y ago
If a future Scotland gains independence and then seeks entry to the EU I presume (hah - big talk!) that the EU would require Scotland to adopt the Euro, free movement, full trade access and so on. Does that mean that England would want a hard border to prevent EU nationals from wandering in and taking their jobs? Does it mean that the EU would require a hard border to prevent the leaking of non-EU certified goods from England to Scotland?
I lived in Scotland before Brexit and the last IndyRef. Now I live in Ireland. Watching what Brexit has brought to Ireland (thanks Nigel!) makes me wonder what the thinking is on how an independent Scotland inside the EU would work? I suppose there is the precedent of the several other non-EU countries with EU borders. And indeed the history of civil war in Northern Ireland is much more recent than war between Scotland and England, so perhaps it's NBD.
- smcl 4y agoIt would mean a protracted set of negotiations with Westminster throwing as many wrenches into the works as possible.
- AndrewDucker 4y agoI would assume that the same kinds of borders would exist between Scotland and England as between Northern Ireland and The Republic. And that trade between Scotland and Ireland would suddenly get a lot easier (as they would with the rest of Europe), at the same time as trade got harder with England/Wales.
- AndrewOMartin 4y agoI just want to point out that the border between Northern Ireland and The Republic is in a weird state of legal flux, being sometimes in the sea, sometimes hard, soft, semi-soft, and being a source of violent tension for generations. If you actually go there today you'll often notice nothing at all, but there have been all sorts of plans about what will finally happen once we "get Brexit done".