The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, seems to have shot Alex Salmond's plans down in flames.
Salmond has maintained that if Scotland succedds in his ambition of becoming an independent state, it would remain within the European Union and negotiate the details of its position from there. Mr Barros has now made it very clear that his understanding of the legal position is that any new independent state would have to apply for membership and, presumably, complete the whole process before being admitted.
Why anyone would want to be a member of the EU is a mystery to me; the club is a socialist monolith which is in danger of collapsing at any moment. Nonetheless, continued membership is one of the central planks of Salmond's push for an independent Scotland.
He's already claimed that separating from the United Kingdom would affect neither the position of the Queen as Head of State, nor Scotland's use of sterling as their currency, both of which may be somewhat problematic. This latest rebuff, coming as it does from one of the most socialist individuals in the EU, must surely put his plans under extreme stress. Wonder what he''ll do now ? !
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