Subject: On January 31 2020, Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon sent a "letter to Europe, regarding the UK leaving the European Union". She declared that "Scotland may lie on the edge of Europe, but we have always been - and want to remain- at its heart".

Résumé du document

Subject: On January 31 2020, Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon sent a "letter to Europe, regarding the UK leaving the European Union". She declared that "Scotland may lie on the edge of Europe, but we have always been - and want to remain- at its heart".

Extraits

[...] The legal situation set aside, what would happen if Scotland wanted to join the EU and leave the UK ? Economically there is a requirement of having a or less GDP budget deficit. Scotland's actual budget deficit is at this would mean a lot more taxes and cuts to reach the level of admission into the EU. Amongst other problems there is mostly the geographical one : with the UK being out of the EU, it would mean that a system of checks and reinforced borders would have to be implemented, being that the UK is now outside of the European single market. [...]

[...] Subject: On January Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon sent a "letter to Europe, regarding the UK leaving the European Union". She declared that "Scotland may lie on the edge of Europe, but we have always been - and want to remain- at its heart". Using your knowledge of Scottish History, culture and geography, discuss this statement. "They want to stay in the European Union and at the same time they are prevented to stay in the European Union.", these are the words of former European Council president Van Rompuy, when asked about the way Scotland was handling the Brexit issue. [...]

[...] The situation Scotland faces today is quite unprecedented: being part of the United Kingdom, Scotland benefited from the European Union (free trade, tourism, war treaties, assurances etc), with the UK now leaving, Scotland's belonging is unclear. On paper of course, Scotland is to leave with the United Kingdom, but in reality, a majority of scots voted remain in the 2016 referendum of the Scottish Population voted remain). This is due to the strong connection between Scotland and the European Union. [...]

[...] It would have set a precedent for other nationalistic regions of some European countries, Catalonia being the main threat. When voting to stay or remain within the UK, Scots did not expect to also answer the question of staying or not within the EU, and this was a turning point for the voters. Leaving the UK was already a hard decision when it came to resources and trade, but leaving the EU would have been dangerous for Scotland at the time. [...]

[...] Indeed, much of the reasons for re-joigning the European Union are cultural, personnal, and a bit idealistic. The EU embodies this idea of an alliance of nations, a free trade dream and a sense of belonging as an independent nation that Scotland dreams of. Even though Scotland has always had a strong nationalistic sense, being able to stand on its own and be part of the biggest alliance of countries worldwide as its own nation is the dream of many scots. [...]