I’M grateful to Sunday National editor Laura Webster and the team for the new Sunday spot and refocus of the column, and I’m honoured to share a page with David Pratt, Scotland’s leading international correspondent.  

I’ll use this column to highlight what is going on in Brussels, the wider EU and Europe of relevance to Scotland and the UK.

The National deserves much credit for keeping a granular focus on EU issues and I’m very happy to continue ploughing  that furrow.

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I’m also the vice-president of the European Movement in Scotland so it fits well that I keep banging the  EU drum.   The European Movement in Scotland (not to be confused with the European Movement UK which is a distinct organisation) is, very sensibly, explicitly agnostic on Scotland’s constitutional question, but united around the idea that we should get back into the EU, somehow.

The fact that nationalists and Unionists, and all views in between,  can work together towards a  common European ideal is, I think, a powerful strength. Dare I say it, Scottish politics could do with more of that ethos. 

We have plenty to do, so if you are interested in joining, have a look at euromovescotland.org.uk.

But for my part, it will come as no surprise that I believe independence in the EU is Scotland’s best future and this column will be written from that firm perspective.

I also believe it is an argument the Yes movement has yet to properly weaponise because of a small but vociferous element of the movement spreading doubt about the objective and the roadmap.  In the latest poll on the issue, we discovered that 72% of Scots want back into the EU.

That should be the bedrock of an appealing and attractive campaign.  It is also a crucial point of difference in UK politics that the SNP should continue to promote, as I hope I did in Brussels and Westminster.

Also, because different facts are simultaneously true, I believe the UK should get back into the EU too (or at least have as deep and close and functioning a relationship with it from outside the political union).

With the new UK Government, there has been a marked and welcome change – in tone at least – in UK-EU relations, and the appointment of Nick Thomas-Symonds bodes well for a better relationship.

He is a serious, unflashy, details man, which I very much welcome. That is not meant to be faint praise – EU stuff is serious, detailed and unflashy, and after the last few years of Tory nihilistic dilettantism, I’m pleased we now have a grown-up on this stuff. 

I think he will be a good partner to EU vice-president Maroš Šefčovič assuming he himself retains the role of Britmaster-General (not his official title) in the new EU Commission.

I add that caveat because the EU had an election too – 182 million people voting EU-wide between June 6-9 – and the last few weeks since have been about the settling out of that result and setting up of the 2024/29 mandate.

The one in post to make decisions is not only really important for the UK’s future relations, but the Yes movement too, given that the accession of new states into the EU will be a far more prominent feature of debate.

  The elections saw the European People’s Party win the most seats, but in the proportional system, no bloc has a majority.

With slight increases for the anti-EU factions, the centre right, centre left, liberal and Green blocs united to create a cordon sanitaire to block any anti EU candidates from any positions within the European Parliament, re-electing Parliament President Roberta Metsola for another two and a half years.  

Similarly re-elected was Ursula von der Leyen (above), the outgoing Commission President, elected for another five-year term by 401 MEPs – 284 voting against and 22 abstentions. In a debate with the Parliament days before, von der Leyen also outlined her priorities for the EU in the coming years. I’ll come back to that in a later column.

So that done, Brussels was set quiet for a few weeks over the summer so people can gather their marbles for the years ahead.  

But not before von den Leyen threw a cat among the pigeons with a letter this week to member states asking that they nominate not one but two names as prospective EU Commissioners so that she can continue a gender-balanced College of Commissioners.

Strictly, this is not in the Treaties of the EU and it remains to be seen if the member state governments will play ball. Formally, each member state nominates a candidate as EU commissioner, von den Leyen interviews them and offers them a portfolio, then the European Parliament grills them for a few weeks before appointing all of them, or not, en bloc in a vote in the autumn.

Two roles are already pinned down – von den Leyen’s herself as Germany’s nominee, and Estonia’s Kaja Kallas who is already confirmed as Commission vice president in charge of EU foreign policy. Maroš Šefčovič is confirmed as Slovakia’s nominee but there remains some negotiation to go over whether he will retain responsibility for UK-EU relations. It is a fascinating process and we’ll watch with interest as the member state governments jockey for position.

But one thing we and the UK Government do need to take on, UK-EU relations are now a minority sport in the European Parliament. People are sick of Brexit, tired of British special pleading and have other priorities. 

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Yes, there are things the new UK Government can and should do to strengthen the relationship, but Out means Out.

War in Ukraine, the energy crisis, climate change and progressing the disparate accession negotiations of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye, Ukraine  and Kosovo are where all the bandwidth will be going.

But it all matters to us, and there are opportunities for us to contribute and learn. The world is moving on whether we’re in the room or not, we need to pay attention.