With Scotland potentially seceding from the United Kingdom, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy warned that the country will have to reapply for European Union membership, a long process that could last up to eight years.
Speaking in front of the Spanish Parliament, Rajoy said that voting in favor of Scottish independence would serve as a “torpedo” to the EU’s vulnerabilities, and that the EU was created to integrate states, and not to break them up. He added that independence would be bad for everyone involved, meaning the region, the state, and the EU in general, saying that “there would be very little support” for an independent Scotland. Rajoy’s comments were made after a report from UK publication The Telegraph stated that Scotland First Minister Alex Salmond was purposely misleading Scots regarding an independent Scotland’s status within the EU. R\
Salmond had recently spoken on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, claiming he had spoken to representatives from other EU members, and that Scotland would not have to reapply from scratch, instead receiving a fast-track entry in between a potential Yes vote and the formal separation, which would potentially take place in March 2016. This was denied by the Belgian and French governments, as well as Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, all of whom asserted they had not had any talks with Salmond or his government.
Separate from Rajoy, Spanish European Affairs Minister Inigo Mendez de Vigo said earlier in the week that an independent Scotland would have to wait five years or more before joining the EU, which would be the only time it can sign for reapplication. This would have to be unanimously approved by all 28 member states, with these member states deciding the terms of an independent Scotland’s membership in the union.