Friday, Apr 26, 2024 | Last Update : 12:44 PM IST
No ‘easy path’ for Scotland after Brexit, says Nicola Sturgeon
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was “heartened” by her talks with EU officials Wednesday but said there was no “automatic easy path” to protecting her country’s status in the EU aft
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was “heartened” by her talks with EU officials Wednesday but said there was no “automatic easy path” to protecting her country’s status in the EU after Brexit.
“I don’t underestimate the challenge but I have been heartened today that I’ve found a willingness to listen,” she said in Brussels six days after Britain — but not Scotland — voted to leave the EU.
She said after meeting European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and MEPs that she had met “a lot of people expressing support for Scotland’s position and wishing good luck in its attempts to protect its position with the EU”.
She added though that this “of course doesn’t translate into an automatic easy path for Scotland through the situation we find ourselves in which I stress is not a situation of our making. But, I leave Brussels tonight in good heart and optimistic,” she told a press conference.
While Britain as a whole voted 52-48 per cent to leave the EU, Scotland voted 62-38 per cent to remain. Scots rejected independence in 2014 but since the June 23 Brexit vote, there have been calls for another referendum to give Scotland the option to remain in the EU.
“What I am seeking to do is once UK negotiations with the EU get underway — and of course none of us know exactly when that will be — that all of the options are considered and Scotland is represented,” Ms Sturgeon added
Spain’s acting-Premier Mariano Rajoy said on Wednesday that Madrid would oppose any separate talks with Scotland on its future in the EU.
Spain has consistently opposed Scottish independence for fear of setting a precedent for its own separatists, especially in Catalonia, its richest region.
“The Spanish government is opposed to any negotiations with anyone else but the British government,” Mr Rajoy said after 27 EU leaders — excluding the United Kingdom — met in Brussels to discuss the Brexit vote. “The United Kingdom leaves and with it, all those who make up the United Kingdom,” Mr Rajoy added.
