Spain’s foreign minister has said that Spain is opposed to Scotland leaving the United Kingdom.
Alfonso Dastis said that membership to the EU for an independent Scotland would not be automatic and it would have to be at the end of the queue if it wanted to join.
He said: “Spain supports the integrity of the United Kingdom and does not encourage secessions or divisions in any of the member states. We prefer things to stay as they are.”
His comments came in response shortly after the announcement by Nicola Sturgeon on Monday that she is aiming for a second independence referendum.
The Spanish government has ardently opposed recent attempts to hold a similar referendum in Catalonia and has long tried to contend with separatist thrusts from the Basque country.
During the run-up in 2014 to the last Scottish independence vote, Spain’s Prime Minister Rajoy said independence would be “a torpedo to the vulnerabilities of the EU, which was created to integrate states, not to fragment them”.
On Monday Dastis also said that Scotland’s membership of the EU was derived only from being a part of the UK. As a new independent state, it would have to apply.
Scotland, he said, “would have to queue, meet the requirements for entry, hold negotiations and the result would be that these negotiations would take place”.
Membership application procedures are outlined in Article 49 and require unanimous agreement of member states. This rule effectively contains veto power by any member state.
Spain, however, has never said that it would actually veto an independent Scotland.
