SNP Euro dream would leave Scotland in tatters

If the SNP had their way on the Euro then Scotland would now have to spend government money bailing out Portugal – the latest Eurozone country to descend into financial chaos.

Murdo Fraser, Scottish Conservative Deputy Leader, said:

"One of the SNP's most cherished aims has been to take an independent Scotland into the Euro. Along with the much-heralded Arc of Prosperity, they have gone rather quiet on this in recent times.

"If they had realised their ambitions, Scotland would now be part of a currency descending into crisis.

"And before the SNP tell us an independent Scotland could choose whether or not to join the Euro and there would be a referendum to decide the issue, we already know this is not the case [see notes].

"Alex Salmond must admit that as an independent Scotland, we would have no choice but to join the Euro and therefore have to transfer precious Scottish resources into bailing out all other countries in the currency. This is a step we can ill-afford to take at this time – the SNP's Euro dream would leave the Scottish economy in tatters."

1) "...we are favourable to Scotland joining the Euro when the time is right..."

http://www.snp.org/manifesto09

Alex Salmond: "And I think the argument for having strong fiscal powers, powers over revenue, powers to expand the economy within a monetary context, within a European Euro context, will prove to be a very strong one for the people of Scotland. As you know, we're in Sterling and Sterling is sinking like a stone."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/4143731/Alex-Salmond-Euro-membership-is-a-strong-argument-for-independence.html

2) Under their respective Acts of Accession, all ten States who joined the EU in 2004, together with Romania and Bulgaria who joined in 2007, are obliged to adopt the Euro once the required criteria has been met. Already one of the Member States (Slovenia in 2007) has adopted the Euro, and Malta and Cyprus are due to adopt it at the start of 2008.

The United Kingdom and Denmark currently have a special status which allows them to decide when (and if) they wish to adopt the Euro as their currency. This position was set out in the Maastricht Treaty of 1992.

Membership of the Euro would be an automatic consequence of independence. There is absolutely no guarantee that the special status enjoyed by the UK would automatically transfer to an independent Scotland. This would create a very damaging situation for Scottish businesses, where they would be operating with a different currency from their major markets in the rest of the UK.

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