ALYN Smith has hit back at Alex Salmond’s “fantasy plans” for an independent Scotland to initially join the European Free Trade Association (Efta) rather than seek full membership of the EU.
Smith, the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesman at Westminster , set out his party’s views after the former first minister and Alba leader unveiled its policy on Efta and membership of the European Economic Area (EEA).
Salmond said a new position on Europe was needed following Brexit and the change of circumstances since 2014 when he backed the country being in the EU as an independent member state.
But Smith said the EU membership was the “best option”. He said: “Foreign policy is too important to bluff on or gamble with, and anyone proposing Efta or EEA membership needs to be honest about what those options, even if they were on the table, entail.
They’re not halfway houses or available to join with a few tokens from a Frosties box, they are every bit as onerous to accede into as the EU but without all the advantages.
“There’s no appetite in Brussels for fantasy plans and the SNP are focused on delivering the best outcome for Scotland. Independence in Europe is our best option. We have looked at all the others and they’re nowhere near as good.”
Dr Kirsty Hughes, director of the Scottish Centre on European Relations, was also sceptical. She said: “It’s not the case that joining the EEA – the only route that gives membership of the EU single market ... would be much quicker than rejoining the European Union. It would require the agreement of all 30 of the EEA’s members, including all 27 EU member states, and formal negotiations could not start until Scotland was an independent country.
“Scotland would have to show – just as in EU talks – that it met all the single market legislation, laws, rules and regulatory conditions. “Being in the EEA instead of the EU would mean Scotland had no vote or seat at the EU table on a huge range of issues affecting it – it would be a rule-taker facing a big democratic deficit sitting on the sidelines of European decision-making and strategic development.
“Creating a customs union with the UK would mean that Scotland would be subservient to UK trade policy. It would have to apply the terms the UK agreed with other countries ... This would mean an independent Scotland had no say over EU single market rules, and no say over UK trade policy but be required to follow both.”
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