Spain drops plan to impose veto if
Scotland tries to join EU
Foreign minister says Madrid remains
opposed to an independent Scotland, but would not block any EU application
Jennifer Rankin in Brussels
Sunday 2 April 2017 07.00 BST Last modified on Sunday 2
April 2017 08.47 BST
Spain has said it would not veto an attempt by an
independent Scotland to join the EU, in a boost to Nicola Sturgeon’s campaign
for a second independence referendum and the clearest sign yet that Brexit has
softened Madrid’s longstanding opposition.
Alfonso Dastis, the Spanish foreign minister, made it clear
that the government would not block an independent Scotland’s EU hopes,
although he stressed that Madrid would not welcome the disintegration of the
UK.
He also said Edinburgh would have to apply for membership, a
process fraught with uncertainty that is likely to take several years. But
asked directly whether Spain would veto an independent Scotland joining the EU,
Dastis said: “No, we wouldn’t.”
Madrid is keen not to fuel Catalonia’s desire for
independence. “We don’t want it [Scottish independence] to happen,” he said.
“But if it happens legally and constitutionally, we would not block it. We don’t
encourage the breakup of any member states, because we think the future goes in
a different direction.”
The change in tone could prove a significant boon to
Scotland’s first minister, who has repeatedly demanded the right from
Westminster to hold a second independence referendum before Brexit. Scotland
voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU during the referendum last year, but
it has been believed Spain would block it from rejoining if independent from
the UK.
The softening stance this weekend reflects the new approach
being taken by Dastis, a career diplomat, who was promoted to foreign minister
last November after the centre-right prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, formed a
government following 300 days of political paralysis in 2016.
In the run-up to Scotland’s 2014 independence referendum,
Rajoy said Scottish independence would be a catastrophe that would risk
Europe’s disintegration, but the political calculus in Madrid and Brussels has
shifted since Britain voted to leave the EU.
EU leaders are more sympathetic to Scotland, where 62% voted
to remain in the EU, while insisting that Scots cannot inherit Britain’s EU
membership.
The European commission spelled out earlier this month that
an independent Scotland would have to apply to join the bloc, a point
reinforced by Dastis. “They would have to join the line of candidates at some
point and would have to start negotiations,” he said.
Scotland would have no chance of winning the perks enjoyed
by the UK, such as the rebate on EU payments. Current EU law also requires new
joiners to sign up to the euro, an issue that would pose fundamental problems
for Scotland’s trade with the rest of the UK.
Experts have suggested negotiations could take three to four
years, but the timing is uncertain. EU diplomats are reluctant to get into the
details of a hypothetical event, especially when the bloc’s energies are being
absorbed by Brexit.
Recent polls have cast doubt on the Scottish appetite to
abandon the UK for a closer relationship with Europe. A study by the NatCen
social research organisation found that Scots wanted similar controls on
immigration to people from other parts of the UK.
The Spanish minister was speaking to the Guardian and other
European newspapers in the week that Britain’s most senior diplomat in Brussels
handed in a letter from Theresa May formally announcing the intention to leave
the EU.
Describing the prime minister’s letter as “constructive and
respectful”, Dastis disagreed with suggestions that the UK was attempting to
use security as a bargaining chip. “I didn’t take it as a threat,” he said.
“Security cooperation is good not only for the EU, but also the UK. The fact
the UK is leaving raises a challenge, but we [the EU] have to develop security
cooperation.”
The Brexit minister, David Davis, hit the phones on
Wednesday afternoon, seeking to reassure diplomats across Europe that Britain
was not using security as a bargaining chip.
Dastis emphasised his agreement with the EU’s chief Brexit
negotiator, Michel Barnier, who insists the UK must agree the divorce
settlement before embarking on trade talks. This sequence is likely to be
agreed without dispute when the EU’s 27 prime ministers and presidents meet to
finalise its negotiating principles on 29 April.
In a separate interview with El País, Dastis said Spain
preferred a soft Brexit, although he doubted it would be possible. “Spain is
closer to soft Brexit. We regret the UK is leaving. We want a balanced,
reasonable agreement. But if they’re leaving the single market and the customs
union, it’s difficult to think of a soft Brexit. Spain would like a close
relation, as similar as possible to the one we have now.”
In a clear diplomatic victory for Spain, the draft
guidelines, which were circulated to national capitals on Friday, come down in
favour of Madrid in the centuries-old dispute with Britain over Gibraltar. The
text gives Spain an effective right to exclude Gibraltar from any transitional
single market access arrangement or future trade deal with the UK if it is not
satisfied with the status of the territory.
Spain also has a strong interest in settling the status of
EU nationals, a key plank of the divorce agreement. More than 300,000 Britons
have settled in Spain and their right to healthcare, employment and social
security will be shaped by the Brexit deal. Dastis thought it possible to reach
a settlement in a few months.
Leaders on both sides of the Channel have talked up the
importance of an early agreement on citizens’ rights, but the issue is laced
with complexity. An early political statement aimed at reassuring citizens is
possible, but the reality of settling knotty questions of health, employment
and social security rights could take longer. “Nothing is agreed until
everything is agreed,” states the EU draft text.
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