Spanish Consul in Edinburgh fired over 'independent Scotland' letter
Monday, June 10, 2019 @ 11:10 AM
THE Spanish Consul in Edinburgh has been struck off after publicly stating that his home country 'would not veto' an independent Scotland's joining the European Union.
Miguel Ángel Vecino (pictured) was 'acting outside his jurisdiction' when he wrote to The Herald in response to MEP Esteban González Pons, of the right-wing PP, who had said his party would veto any attempt by Scotland to leapfrog to pole position in its bid to become an EU member State if it voted to become a separate country as a result of Brexit.
González Pons stated, in his Herald article, that Scotland would have to 'join the back of the queue behind Turkey and Serbia' if it wanted to attempt to become a part of the EU after severing ties with the UK.
Vecino wrote to The Herald insisting that González Pons' view 'in no way represented' the position of the Spanish government, that the country's foreign affairs minister Josep Borrell had 'recently declared Spain would not block Scotland's entry to the EU 'if its independence had been acquired legally', and that this 'had always been the intention of Spain's government'.
He added that Spain had 'never intervened and never would intervene' in 'home issues' in the UK 'or in any other EU member State', and that he would 'hope for a reciprocal attitude'.
“Entering the EU does not depend at all on waiting in a queue, like waiting your turn in a shop,” Vecino's letter said.
“It depends upon whether a State meets the economic and political conditions required by the Treaties.”
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com