Svartalf wrote:ronmcd wrote:Svartalf wrote:
Mr Avery is a moron whi believes his wishes have a relation with reality, OR, the adjustment period between announcement of Scottish independence to be and the actual granting of same would be several years and cover the time necesary for Scotland to negociate its membership in EU from independence on.
Eh? Thats exactly what he is suggesting, "
Mr Avery said arrangements for Scotland's EU membership would need to be in place simultaneously with independence". If people vote yes in 2014, the period between that decision and actual independence will be measured in years, at the moment it is assumed to be 2 years, and the reason for that is to get everything sorted - that includes EU. So at the point Scotland actually became independent, the major issues and agreements would be in place. I've never heard any suggestion of anything else.
I may be tired, I was under the impression he was suggesting that Scotland not being an automatic member upon independence, without lengthy intermediate period before independence, would create such paradoxes that it was all but impossible.
I don't think so, he starts
his submission to the committee with a summary of his main points:
2. In the debate on Scottish independence it is natural that opponents tend to exaggerate the difficulties of EU membership, while proponents tend to minimise them. This note tries to address the subject as objectively as possible. In summary it argues that:
· Arrangements for Scotland’s EU membership would need to be in place simultaneously with independence
· Scotland’s 5 million people, having been members of the EU for 40 years; have acquired rights as European citizens
· For practical and political reasons they could not be asked to leave the EU and apply for readmission
· Negotiations on the terms of membership would take place in the period between the referendum and the planned date of independence
· The EU would adopt a simplified procedure for the negotiations, not the traditional procedure followed for the accession of non-member countries
Later on he expands on the issue of timing:
7. At this point we need to consider the timing and procedure for such Treaty changes. Scotland’s EU membership would need to be in place simultaneously with Scottish independence. For practical and political reasons the idea of Scotland leaving the EU, and subsequently applying to join it, is not feasible.
So as the summary suggests, he doesn't think it is feasible that Scotland would leave and reapply, instead Scotland would need the negotiations to be done in the period between the referendum and actual independence taking place. The SNP say that would be between 2014 and the next scheduled Scottish election in 2016, but no doubt that 2016 could be pushed back if required.
I'm pretty sure his submission supports the "YES" campaigns opinions, because the SNP and YES campaign have been awfully excited about this document today

but of course there are also opposing views out there, and some other submissions to the same committee are apparently less convinced.