Jacqueline Minor said Jean Claude Juncker, the commission’s president, had made clear there would be no more states admitted until 2020 – the year after the UK is expected to leave the European Union.
She said there are several countries waiting to become member states, including Montenegro and Serbia, and an independent Scotland “would join that list.” This would mean Scotland being outside both the UK and EU for an indeterminate period.
With the SNP’s leadership reviewing their stance on currency,she said a separate Scotland would have to commit in principle to joining the euro to get membership and show how it intended to bring down its huge deficit, which is even larger than Greece’s.
Ms Minor also poured cold water onMs Sturgeon’s plan for Scotland to stay in the single market even if the rest of the UK comes out, saying it would have to be proposed by Theresa May and there was “no precedent” for any such arrangement.
rejected Nationalist claims that it could seamlessly stay inside the European Union.
Ms Minor saidthat was not the European Commission’s opinion during the 2014 independence referendumand nothing had changed since. She said Scotland would instead have to apply from scratch under Article 49 of the Lisbon Treaty, a process that can take many years.
The most recent Scottish Government figures showed Scotland has a public spending deficit of 9.5 per cent of its GDP, compared to four per cent for the UK a whole and 7.2 per cent for Greece, which has been forced by the EU to impose extreme austerity.
So there you have it, you would be negotiating for years for a deal to join, and would have to impose strict financial ruled to get in. Whoope!