the only people who can clarify the EU position are the EU.
Correct! However the SNP still don't agree..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-20664907
Transcript of the interview
Interviewer: The Commission has made it clear that any country, a country like Scotland, that would choose to be independent, would need to reapply for EU membership. When you think about how that would work, would it just be nodded through, do you think?
Jose Manuel Barroso: "Look, I did not comment on specific situations of member states because I very much respect that it is their right, their sovereign right to decide about their organisation.
"Now, what I said, and it is our doctrine and it is clear since 2004 in legal terms, if one part of a country - I am not referring now to any specific one - wants to become an independent state, of course as an independent state it has to apply to the European membership according to the rules - that is obvious."
Interviewer: "So, it has to renegotiate its terms?"
Jose Manuel Barroso: "Yes."
Interviewer: "And is it renegotiating those terms from inside, as a member of the EU, or is it effectively reapplying from outside the EU?"
Jose Manuel Barroso: "We are a union of states, so if there is a new state, of course, that state has to apply for membership and negotiate the conditions with other member states......
Interviewer: "So if, and I am using the example of Scotland, and I appreciate you are not talking about specifics, but say a country like Scotland, it, say, chooses independence, it is then like a new state applying to the EU?"
Jose Manuel Barroso: "For European Union purposes, from a legal point of view, it is certainly a new state. If a country becomes independent it is a new state and has to negotiate with the EU.
Interviewer: "What about the rest of the UK that is effectively left behind by Scotland's independence...."
Jose Manuel Barroso: "That is the principle of the continuity of the state, in that case if a....
Interviewer: "Would it have to renegotiate its terms?"
Jose Manuel Barroso: "No, no in principle no."
In response, Ms Sturgeon said: "We do not agree that an independent Scotland will be in the position of having to reapply for European Union membership, because there is no provision for removing EU treaties from any part of EU territory, or for removing European citizenship from the people of a country which has been in the EU for 40 years.
"We have always said that the specific terms of Scotland's continued EU membership as an independent nation will be negotiated - but the crucial point is that these negotiations will take place from within the EU, because in the period immediately following a 'Yes' vote in the referendum, Scotland will still be part of the UK and the EU.
I can appreciate what she is saying in regards to the fact that detailed discussions re EU membership would only be held after a "Yes" vote but they are still claiming that an independent Scotland would not have to "apply" to the EU as has just been clarified. I'm not entirely convinced they aren't trying to put a positive spin on this story by trying to bamboozle people!
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