Independent Scotland will have to re-apply to join EU

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Monday a newly independent state would have to apply to join the European Union, casting doubt on assertions that an independent Scotland would automatically become a member of the bloc.

The Scottish National Party, which controls Scotland’s devolved government, has pushed for Scottish independence and plans to hold a referendum on the issue in 2014.

Assurances that an independent Scotland would automatically remain a member of the EU have been a key pledge in the SNP’s bid to end Scotland’s 300-year-old union with England.

“If one part of a country – I am not referring now to any specific one – wants to become an independent state, of course as an independent state it has to apply to the European membership according to the rules – that is obvious,” Barroso told the BBC.

Asked whether an independent country would have to renegotiate its terms, Barroso said: “Yes”.

A possible major point of contention in talks between an independent Scotland and the EU could be whether Scotland has to adopt the euro currency. Scotland had planned to keep using Britain’s sterling currency.