|
From the Scots Independent
Newspaper - November 2020
EU or not EU
Sovereignty is key to Scottish
independence
By Gerry Fisher
We stand by the right of nations to self-determination
The major gain from the pandemic has been
the voters' realisation that what is represented as good for society is
less now the economic measures of actions than before that there were
other answers to the 2008 crash than austerity that lockdown did not
necessarily mean unemployment but could be at least deferred by
furlough.
And yet my Party leaders continue to maintain that the society change
they primarily exist to proclaim, and say they still believe in, should
be subject to the uncertain economic gains of EU membership rather than
standing by the last words of the Arbroath Declaration - "it is not for
riches, nor glory nor honours that we fight but for freedom". And they
do this, essentially, by maintaining the fiction, the lie, that Scotland
would still be independent if it became a member of the EU.
That "France and Germany are still independent states" or worse "there
is no longer any state that is independent" - as if our closest
neighbour Norway had not chosen to remain independent, rejecting the CFP,
which the Eurounionists have never dared to remove from the Party's
policy book. Another possible gain arising in the last six months is the
general acceptance within the UK that there are four nations within the
UK state - important because we stand by the right of nations to
self-determination, even if the EU does not (as for Catalonia). So, what
is the difference between independence and EU membership?
Independence means that Scotland will have, through its democratically
elected parliament (set up under the authority of the sovereign Scots),
the right to legislate over every field which is totally within its
control. That includes the budget and borrowing, but excludes trade
terms and the ecosystem, where agreement demands the acceptance of each
independent state involved.
It includes the ownership of the fish and fishing, and the right to
control its borders but accepts internationally agreed norms on right of
asylum.
It legislates to maintain its CFP which the SNP decided 40 years ago it
would not accept but now implies it can reform to an acceptable, if
still subservient, regime.
My government's spokespeople even talk as if they think Spain would not
veto its application.
An independent Scotland might wish, it would certainly have the power,
to take VAT off electricity and gas charges - as an EU member the ECJ
would order it to put it back, at least to a minimum of 5 per cent.
The above examples are not opinions, they are legal and constitutional
law facts.
They are the facts which establish my belief that the statement that an
independent Scotland can be a, can even apply for, EU membership is made
by members who are either ignorant of the facts, or no longer want
independence, or have to lie to convince the sovereign Scots that EU
membership is better for them than independence. As citizens those
members have that right, but not those committed to the Aims of the SNP
which they accepted when they became members.
Some of those who joined the Party, before and after 2014, remain
committed to the Aims of the Party do not believe that it is in
Scotland's interests to be a member of either the UK or the European
Union and look to our elected leaders to return to that commitment and
act accordingly
See the
above article as a pdf file |
