The Economy of Catalonia

cases are identical. That is to say, according to Avery, a simplified procedure
would be applied to Catalonia and, for “practical and political reasons”,
Catalonia could not be asked to leave the EU and request readmission,
for which reason there should be agreement on the terms of
accession at the time of its formal independence. However, Avery does
not consider the possibility of a veto on Scotland’s accession.
Accordingly, while both experts think that Catalonia’s adhesion to the
EU would not be automatic and would have to be negotiated, they differ
on the first postulate. Avery says that Scotland would be born inside
the EU while Granell says that Catalonia would be born outside of it.
The reason for this discrepancy is not the interpretation of the Community
rules, nor the slow pace of the negotiation process but rather what
they see as the probability of a member State exercising its veto.
The British government’s opinion
As a third «expert», it would be worthwhile to consider the compilation of
studies published by the British government on the effect that independence
would have on Scotland and on the rest of the United Kingdom.
This compilation’s title is «Scotland Analysis». What interests us here is Part
1 and Part 4. It should be pointed out that the government’s aim is to show
that independence would be harmful for the Scots and, in this respect, the
reports repeat the formula that autonomy is better than independence
(«devolution offers people in Scotland the best of both worlds»).
The first study (February 2013) examines the legal implications of independence.
The following points are what interest us here:
– An independent Scotland would have to negotiate the terms of accession
to the EU, which would have to be approved by all the member
States. Nothing is said about the duration of the negotiation period.
– The foremost difficulty of the negotiation is that it would be hard
for the EU to accept that Scotland can maintain the British optouts,
that is to say, not using the euro, the «British rebate» and exclusion
from the Schengen Area.
The fourth study (July 2013) focuses on the economic impact of independence.
Essentially, it presents four arguments to show that independence
would be harmful to the Scottish economy:
74 The Economy of Catalonia