Jamie McGrigor, Highlands & Islands MSP, spoke in today’s Parliamentary debate on how the Scottish Parliament and its Committees engage with the European Union. Jamie referred to the weekend statement of EU Commission President Barroso about the difficulties which would face an independent Scotland seeking to gain approval for EU membership.
Speaking in the debate, Jamie, who is a Member of the Scottish Parliament’s European & External Relations Committee, whose report was the basis for today’s debate, said:
“Members will forgive me for, understandably, opening with reference to the most definitive statement yet regarding Scotland’s membership of the EU should it choose to go down the route towards independence. I make no apologies for drawing attention to EU Commission President Barroso’s comments on Sunday, where he said categorically our position in the EU could not be guaranteed following a vote for separatism. “Extremely difficult, if not impossible” were his words. But at least he is consistent, as was his predecessor Romano Prodi, who, as long ago as 2004, said that an independent Scotland would not automatically be a member of the EU.
“Today’s debate draws attention to the workings of the European & External Relations Committee’s Report on EU Engagement with regard to how the various committees of this Parliament interact with EU policies. That might sound a bit dull, but let me say that our committee provides a very useful function in scrutinising what comes out of Europe and how it relates to our business in our devolved Parliament.
“The importance of the European Committee has been demonstrated in recent months by the attendance, both in October of 2013, of the Lithuanian Ambassador and of the Croatian Ambassador - the latter coming soon after Croatia’s accession to the EU. We look forward to the evidence session scheduled for next month, when the Greek Ambassador will be joining us”.