This blog exclusively broke the news that Juncker was much more friendly to Scottish independence, and that was a major reason for Cameron’s bitter opposition.
Unionists were in frenzies of delight this past 24 hours at Juncker’s statement that he saw no further enlargement of the EU for five years. Wings Over Scotland has done an excellent job of summing up the triumphalism of the media and of every senior Unionist politician you can think of.
The BBC deserves the massive criticism it has been given for unionist bias, but James Cook of the BBC deserves credit for asking Juncker’s office whether his statement included Scotland. The reply could not have been more clear. Juncker did not include Scotland in that statement. As Juncker had said before, Scottish independence is a matter for democratic decision and is an internal EU matter. Juncker was talking abut the length of time it would take applicant nations to meet the acquis communitaire, or body of EU law, regulation and obligation. Scotland, by definition, already does meet the acquis.
All this Juncker’s office told the BBC explicitly. What is implicit, and self-evidently true, is that Scotland’s independence is not an enlargement, it is just Scotland remaining in, requiring some internal readjustment.
This ought to be good news for everyone – including the unionists.
I can understand that there are people who genuinely love Scotland, but wish for reasons of history to retain the United Kingdom. I even understand some of those honestly believe Scots will be wealthier and happier in the UK. I think they are very wrong, but entitled to that view and some people hold it sincerely.
But such genuine Unionists, should they lose the referendum, would surely wish Scotland to remain in the European Union? That already guarantees the continuance of all the most essential links between England and Scotland, in particular full freedom of movement and settlement and trade and citizens’ rights. It is also important for Scotland’s future prosperity.
Surely a real unionist would want to retain the Union, but still want Scotland to remain in the EU if it became independent?
But instead, every professional unionist politician was gloating at the entirely fictitious prospect of Scotland being kicked out of the EU. They were absolutely delighted at the prospect. They really hate Scotland.
There are decent unionists. But the professional politicians are not decent unionists. They were delighted at the very idea that Scotland might be kicked out of the EU. Because actually they hate, despise and fear Scotland and the Scots. For them, Scotland only exists to pay for their very comfortable public funded lifestyles. The idea they may lose their power, influence and above all their money, horrifies them.
“You are going to vote for the Union!! You are going to vote for me!! If not, you are going to SUFFER, you bastards, SUFFER!!!”
I have a prize of two hundred pounds available to the first person who can show me an instance of the media reporting Juncker’s clarification with the same prominence, space and energy they devoted to splashing the Unionist scare story.
“I have a prize of two hundred pounds available to the first person who can show me an instance of the media reporting Juncker’s clarification with the same prominence, space and energy they devoted to splashing the Unionist scare story.”
The media? I think you should be a bit more specific if you want to hang onto that £200.
Please donate my £200 to a Gazan charity:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-28311938
Save your bet Craig for another day; it won’t happen. But I do agree with you about those Unionists who can only hate Scotland. What other conclusion are we to reach?
Jobsworth Kennedy couldn’t contain his glee when he sat down in Westminster to then entertain himself when Cameron stood up to make an announcement hanging on the breath of a bare faced, unashamed lie. Now Cameron can be excused. Few in Scotland voted for him or his party so he really has nothing to lose.
But Kennedy with a seat representing Ross, Skye & Lochaber, a huge swathe of West highland Scotland? This treachorous comic would rather see his constituents disadvantaged in so many ways, there’s not room here to mention ONLY so that he can continue to pad out his expense sheet & cement himself a gold plated pension.
Only in dusty leather bound historical narratives can one recount such treasonous, self interested greed from people who claim to be “proud” Scots.
Am I really living in the 21st century? Really? Because it actually feels like I have been shoved into the tardis, drugged & then woken up when the time clock stopped at 1745.
It was the break the No & Bitter Together campaigns have been praying for. Finally a fact that supports all their negativity.The hand of God goal to clinch the game.
And then the Monty Python foot of Juncker came down on it all.
Very cringeworthy.
“That [an independent Scotland’s continued membership of the EU] already guarantees the continuance of all the most essential links between England and Scotland, in particular full freedom of movement and settlement and trade and citizens’ rights. It is also important for Scotland’s future prosperity.”
Actually, given that Scotland seems to be the most pro-EU part of the UK, it would make an rUK’s withdrawal from the EU and the ending of those guarantees more likely.
the most reasonable solution if there is a separation would be to make Scotland the “successor state” and allow it to remain in the EU and require the rUK to apply for membership.
“Scotland, by definition, already does meet the acquis”
You define acquis communitaire as body of EU law, regulation and obligation. Is it known what Scotland’s obligation would be? Has its financial obligation to the EU been agreed and, if so, what is it? Surely Scotland has not met the acquis until this obligation has been agreed by all parties.
Scotland has done very well from the EU. As one of Europe’s more deprived regions it has benefitted greatly from EU funding and investment, while the costs of membership have been borne by the UK as a whole. That will all change after independence.
Hector
Yes – if following a yes vote in September, the rUK have their EU referendum in 2015/16 and vote to leave the EU, that must be a serious possibility.
MJ
The financial arrangements between EU states – contributions, regional funds, CAP etc are not part of the acquis communitaire in the sense of conformity with EU law for accession negotiations. The acquis has to be met; the financial flows are then negotiated.
I don’t think the financial aspects are going to be a particularly difficult negotiation at all.
The UK assessed contribution to the EU is paid from general taxation. As with all general UK taxation, Scotland has paid a disproportionate share relative to its population. I don’t think there will be a major change either way in the cost per capita for Scots to subscribe to the EU.
There is no reason why eligibility for regional funding should be significantly different to what it is now.
Unlike you, I have actually participated in accession negotiations. For you to pretend that there are obstacles to Scotland joining the EU, which are of the order or nature of those which faced Romania or even Poland, is ludicrous. I really have never understood your motive for posting disinformation on this subject, continually.
“For you to pretend that there are obstacles to Scotland joining the EU, which are of the order or nature of those which faced Romania or even Poland, is ludicrous”
I’m not pretending anything. I said nothing about Romania or Poland. I was simply asking whether the costs of Scotland’s EU membership were actually known.
“I don’t think there will be a major change either way in the cost per capita for Scots to subscribe to the EU”
That’s alright then.
I am obliged to interject this big government love in. Your pro-independence and pro-EU position is a contradiction you liberals donny ken. Let me explain.
All governments are rich-club, killing machines. The bigger the government the more corrupt and the better at killing it is. USA, China mean anything to anyone? The EU is heading towards being a monster.
Down with the EU! Keep politicians in your eye! Radical decentralisation now!
Phil
I decided to come and live in Spain a few months. And here I am. I didn’t have to ask anybody’s permission. I didn’t have to explain myself. I didn’t have to fill in a single form. I didn’t have to notify anyone.
Now I am here I can work if I want. Move money back and forward as I want. Not only do governments not stop me, the bastards are actually not allowed to stop me. And it works. Here I am, meeting lovely Spanish people and enjoying life.
You see, Phil, that’s what freedom actually is. Living your life expansively without any bloody government official prodding you or saying yes and no. And that is precisely what the EU has given its citizens – vastly expanded freedoms.
But don’t you worry. Just knit another tinfoil hat and stay there.
@Herbie you said :
Please donate my £200 to a Gazan charity:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-28311938
Actually if note the time on that article 21:11 you will realise that it was an update after James Cook had received confirmation from Mt. Juncker’s office.
@Craig
Another excellent article…I have to say I first saw the ‘scary headline’ yesterday afternoon when some ‘NAW’ voter posted a link on the SNP FB page. The link was from the Daily Record and after reading it my heart sunk! You see I am a Scottish citizen resident in the EU, I live here, my husband works here and we can do this because of freedom of movement within the EU. Now I have to say I know the Daily Record leans more favourably towards the Union so before I started looking for contact details for Mr. Juncker to clarify the story in the DR I googled to find out if Scotland was actually mentioned or even Catalonia for that matter. At the time Google News showed 2 articles Headlining the ‘blow to Scots EU plans’ one from the record and one from the Scotsman but German and Russian as well as other ‘international’ news organisations did not mention Scotland or Catalonia but only the 6 counties already in the process of application.
I have to say that although I was angry I have never been so happy to read the WoS article highlighting James Cook tweet!
At the end of the day you Craig are spot on…there is a smug hatred of Scotland but it is not personal per se it is because deep down many Unionist politicians know the game is up, their meal ticket will be lost and what’s more the Scots will soon find out that they have been taken up the garden path and duped for years and we are going to show the world what a smashing wee country we are!
Rant over…#GoforitScotland
That they will be locked out of the EU would surely be the best argument for Scotch independence, since whatever the lying bastards promise in the way of a referendum, the Government in London will never allow the UK to opt out.
Im with Phil on this EU project. It will be the end of all of our future privacy freedoms and prosperity, that is the objective. An unelected commission…..whats to like!
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/no-campaign-accused-twisting-comments-3864102
Do I pass go and collect … ? 🙂
troll
The EU project isn’t against future privacy, future freedoms & future prosperity – that’s a 180 degree distortion of the truth! The project, according to Junckers statement today – will seek to ensure that the Commission builds the Council of Europe declaration of Human Rights fully into the acquis, in the near term, and joins the Convention of Fundamental Rights. Paraphrasing, he’s also going to go hell-for-leather for growth & jobs in the next 5 years, apologies that I’m mentioning to you actual themes from actual documents rather than pro-austerity ‘smelling of gchq’ wibbly-words!
The 2014 Commission, Commissioners are being legitimately appointed by National Sovereign Governments, The Parliament was voted for by mass suffrage, The Commission President was appointed strictly & democratically following the vote – the most democratic process yet, Yes, what’s to like!?
I am glad you are with Nadira and Cameron and not solo in Kent. Cameron must be five now. He will be picking up some Spanish.
Is there a good broadband service where you are in Spain? I assume there must be.
.
~~~
Caught a YT of Esler the other day doing his usual, this time with Billy Connolly. Sly. Tried to make him identify with others in the UK 3 mins in.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26233388
Not Esler but general BBC unsubtle prop, in equal measures as it happens.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-26275521
The fact remains that Scottish people do not know whether they will be in the EU in two months. That is not the fault of the Unionists but the Yes campaign and the EU.
What the Unionists fear is exactly what seems to be happening – that the EU are deliberately obfuscating and staking out a bargaining position so that Scotland will eventually be forced to join the EU under poor terms (eg give up all its oil) or is forced to join the euro. Then they would use Scotland as a weapon against the rest of the UK.
Yes, I like travelling to Spain too, and just have. But it is very difficult to find decent work in Spain without being fluent in Spanish. The English and Scottish, on the other hand, share a language and several hundred of years of common traditions.
Devo-max is the answer, not splitting up the UK.
MJ
“Scotland has done very well from the EU. As one of Europe’s more deprived regions it has benefitted greatly from EU funding and investment, while the costs of membership have been borne by the UK as a whole. That will all change after independence.”
Indeed, as one of Europe’s more deprived would indicate that it is also one of the UK’s more deprived area’s.So where has all our “aid” from Westminster come from as part of the Union, surely, enabling ALL of it’s peoples to live on a common standard would be the main principle to strive after? Is this not the benefit of being a part of a “Union”? I would also suggest that the UK, as a whole , has also benefitted from Scotland’s taxpayers, business and resources.The fact remains that the No and Better together campaigns continue to rub their little hands in glee @ every opportunity to brandish their negativity, or throw more fuel on the never never fire….. That Scotland should change after Independance is nothing to be afraid, or negative about…moreso , it’s to be embraced.It’s about time we changed, under a democratically taken vote and ensuing government. We have democratically requested change in Scotland, at the polls, for years and that has gotten the people of Scotland nothing more than austerity, assett stripping and derision from Westminster. One more thing? If we are troublesome,belligerant, benefit stripping beggars standing with our bowls in hope of payouts from our benevolent betters…surely they would prefer us to be cast out without recompense nor second thought and good riddance to bad rubbish. One less nose in the trough is a good thing…..unless, of course, Scotland is, disproportionately, filling the trough in the first place?
Bitter Together smacks of desperation.
http://t.co/MPJqntctUA
Better not watching this after a heavy meal.
I’m not really seeing the point of independence and then giving most of it to the EU. I’m sure it’s nice to travel to Spain and meet nice people freely, but the reality is most of the migration is economic, and with different sized economies, well it ends up weighing on the lower-wage earners in some countries, and siphoning off valuable skills in others creating imbalance. Besides, ANY centralization of power is a bad thing. This should be common history by now.
Tom,
There really is no provision anywhere in the EU that would enable the EU to claim any of Scotland’s oil. I really do worry about who feeds out this information to people like you.
I have been closely involved in accession negotiations (Poland) and I know two current EU Commissioners. There really is not any hostility to Scotland from within the EU – why one earth would there be? With the exception of a minority of nationalist politicians from Spain. But most Spanish politicians realise that Scottish waters are essential to their fishing fleet, and that an unreasonable stance towards Scotland will actually boost, not decrease, feeling in Catalonia.
There is no chance that Scotland will be outside the EU for a day. That is the strong view of both Merkel and Juncker, and pretty well the entire staff of the commission.
Bill,
We are in the EU already. Now when has the EU actually imposed on your freedom? The weight of the EU (and the related European Court) is very strongly in removing restriction, not imposing it. The existence of EU regulations preventing us from crossing the street and going to the pub is entirely a product of the imagination.
MJ
especially for you, 100% of the SNP’s 6 MPs voted against the disgraceful secret surveillance bill. http://anotherangryvoice.blogspot.com.es/2014/07/51-mps-drip-emergency.html
Now can we hear your usual litany of how the SNP are just exactly the same as the other NWO parties?
If the EU re-writes the Data Retention Directive then the SNP will have no option but to incorporate a Scottish DRIP into law whether they want it or not.
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/police-cooperation/data-retention/index_en.htm
Never mind the waste, the inefficiency, the rampant corruption and threat to the sovereignty of elected national governments Craig can have a nice holiday in Spain, a country only just recovering from the economic upset part caused by it’s improper membership of the Euro so everything’s alright.
Kempe
Yes, and Britain’s economic collapse was caused by?
If Scotland were independent, it could oppose the rewriting of the DRD – and I think veto it, have to remind myself what pillar its under. But wouldn’t be difficult to get a blocking minority I should think.
Our economic woes were nowhere near as bad as Spain’s which is still struggling with a 25% unemployment rate so good luck with finding that job.
If it were so easy why didn’t one of the existing member states block or veto the original DRD when it first passed into EU law eight years ago?
“Now when has the EU actually imposed on your freedom?”
You build a pretty good strawman, I gotta say. Quite easy to knock down though aren’t they?
I massively respect a lot of your opinions, but unfortunately the EU isn’t one of them.
Craig
16 Jul, 2014 – 5:15 pm
“Now I am here I can work if I want.”
I am pro EU Craig, but there are issues that need to be addressed. I doubt that the neo-liberal free market ideology of the EU is geared to helping EU citizens but rather geared to aid the exploitation of labour by international corporations.
In my view the free movement of labour is part of the neo-lib agenda to keep wages down.
Yes you could work if you want Craig but Spain has an unemployment rate of 25% and youth unemployment at 54%. Whose job will you take?
The free movement of labour simply exacerbates serious social problems in many EU countries and thus does not help Europeans to feel at one.
The Press and Journal printed the correct story within its referendum pages.(aberdeenshire edition) The correct story of Junkers words being mishandled by BT. No proof lol but refer to story online, hopefully will find it their. Now do I get my 200 squid lol? Last nights papers review on BBC news channel issued a corrected statement to the story on the Telegraphs front page which originally showed the uncorrect version of Junkers words. Now thats 2 sources of evidence from the MSM.