IN his own country and elsewhere in Europe he is something of a legend in politics, and now Elmar Brok, the longest-serving member of the European Parliament and the man credited with writing the constitution of the EU, has said that it would be “easy” for an independent Scotland to negotiate entry into the union.
Known as the Father of the House and an MEP since 1980, Brok is to stand down at the European Parliamentary elections in May – Scottish Labour MEP David Martin is the second longest-serving member.
A close ally of German chancellor Angela Merkel, Brok told former first minister Alex Salmond on his RT programme that Brexit will lead to Scotland thinking again about independence.
Brok is an alumnus of Edinburgh University. Asked by Salmond about his feelings for Scotland, Brok said: “This is one of the nations closest to my heart ... this country is so wonderful, this is so pro-European ... and therefore I wish Scotland all the luck for the future and I know that the membership in the European Union is of the utmost importance for the future economic and social development of Scotland”.
Asked about the EU’s attitude to a future Scottish application for membership, Brok replied: “If that is done in a referendum under the rules of the United Kingdom .... and if you decide so then it would be then easy to have membership negotiations because Scotland fulfils all the needs for membership, because all the standards are already there, and therefore I am not pushing for dividing the United Kingdom, hopefully the United Kingdom could together be a member together of the European Union but if the United Kingdom goes out of the European Union I can imagine that the Scottish people will think a second time.”
The importance of Brok’s assertion is because of his status within European politics. A member of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, Brok sits in the European Parliament’s European People’s Party bloc.
Brok lost an eye to cancer when he was just six, and studied law and politics in Germany. For a year he studied at the Centre for European Governmental Studies at Edinburgh University.
He worked as a radio journalist before winning his European parliamentary seat in 1980, holding it ever since. He has chaired or been a member of many European Parliament committees and was heavily involved in the preparation of the constitution of the EU.
Having held many senior positions in the CDU and its fellow groups, Brok is a committed European federalist. His influence in Germany and Europe cannot be understated and his views on Scottish entry into the EU after independence will carry weight.
Brok told Salmond’s latest show, which can be seen on the RT channel today, that he still “dreams” that Britain will stay in but sees this as unrealistic and the worst fear is a “hard Brexit by default”.
He expressed his “great regret” about Brexit saying that he
“never believed that the United Kingdom would have no interest in its own interests.”
Brok has taken a close interest in the Brexit negotiations and described as “stupid” destroying the withdrawal agreement over a “one per cent chance” that a backstop, “a UK invention”, would be used. Brok warned that a hard Brexit is now a very real danger.
“I think there is a very good chance of the hard Brexit,” he told Salmond.
Overall, Brok feels Brexit will be bad for the UK: “For sure it’s a lose-lose situation for both of us and for economic reasons, as trading power but also for security policy we would like to have Britain in, but Britain is in this marketplace 13 times smaller than the market of the European Union so you know who will be the stronger part.”
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