Article published in El Diario 28/03/2017(also in El Confidencial, El Día, Diario Vasco, EFE agency)
Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said today that if Scotland were to become independent and apply for membership to the European Union (EU) its case would be evaluated like that of any "other candidate" entering the bloc.
Dastis made the remarks at the press conference he held in Berlin with his German counterpart, Sigmar Gabriel, who said he was "in agreement" with his Spanish colleague on the Scottish issue and its implications for the Catalan process.
"If Scotland were to become independent and apply for membership to the EU," the Spanish minister explained, the first thing would be to examine whether it met the requirements, an opinion would be issued and then, as with "other candidates", the negotiation would begin.
Dastis simply stated that Spain will respect "the constitutional order of each member" and assured that Madrid will accept the decision to hold a new referendum in Scotland "if the British constitutional order" allows it and "London and Scotland" reach an agreement .
"We will respect the decision if it is in accordance with the law and we will take the measures or reactions that are justified," he added.
In addition, when asked if the cases of Scotland and Catalonia are comparable, Dastis stressed that "the differences between" both "are obvious.
"My position, but I also think Gabriel's too is that we do not encourage any kind of secession in Europe. Europe is about removing barriers, not creating new ones," added the Spanish minister.
Gabriel, on the other hand, affected the same idea of eliminating borders within the old continent and stressed the importance of any such process being done according to the law of each country.
