The members of Equality Nation have used their right to lodge a petition with the EU Parliament. We are asking the EU Parliament to assert that an application, by Scotland for EU membership following an independence referendum would be welcomed.

We ask you to show your support by signing this petition on Change.org. Our friends in England, especially those considering relocating to Scotland, are encouraged to register their support for Scotland’s future place in Europe.

Short summary of petition EU Parliament:
Scotland has a long history as a European nation. For many Scots, European citizenship is not a token addition to who we are but a fundamental part of our identity, adding value to our citizenship of Scotland, regardless of where we were born. The freedom to travel, trade and engage through the structures of the European Union are of enormous importance to us, and we mourn the impending loss of the rights of citizenship, facing an uncertain future in a UK intent on changes to the fundamental legal rights and protections we at present enjoy in European law.

Just as we, value these freedoms, we also value the rights of other EU citizens to come to Scotland to work, study, make friends, marry, raise families, and enrich our cultural life. Although welcome and appreciated in Scotland, these EU citizens have been appallingly treated by the UK Government, and many still face a very uncertain future despite wishing to remain in Scotland. Independence means the Scottish Government would have control over immigration.

Scotland did not vote for Brexit and has been ignored for three and a half years. Brexit and the loss of many EU nationals will severely impoverish Scotland, culturally and economically, harm the Scottish economy and the Scottish way of life, as well as bringing about the drastic break-up of very many families whose members straddle the EU.

Clause 38 in the UK Withdrawal Agreement Bill asserts that the UK parliament is sovereign. This is a convention, with nothing in UK law to confirm it. Carwyn Jones AM, former First Minister of Wales, speaking at the Welsh Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, 13th January 2020, pointed out the potentially dangerous implications for all the peoples of these islands of enshrining it in UK law. Under Scottish constitutional law sovereignty lies with the people.

The UK Government is using Brexit and its majority to ride roughshod over Scottish opinion and erase the ancient nation of Scotland which is supposedly, though not in practice, an equal partner in the United Kingdom. The UK Withdrawal Agreement Bill also strips significant powers from our devolved parliament in Edinburgh, a parliament whose establishment 74.3% of Scots voted for in September 1997.

The EU Parliament is required to ratify the UK’s EU Withdrawal Act. It will have to do so before 31st January 2020. Therefore the EU Parliament will be agreeing to strip people who are still EU citizens of many of their rights and protections. By voting to accept the Act Members of the European Parliament will also be implicit in the eradication of one of Europe’s ancient nations. We ask that MEPs think carefully about that for it is not a course of action a democratic EU Parliament should be associated with.

We earnestly request reassurance from the EU Parliament that a future application from Scotland for EU membership would find an open door with a willingness to work towards restoring our shared citizenship with 27 European countries. A simple statement of future possibility would counter the disparaging avalanche of assertions from UK politicians and media that Scotland would not be welcome in the EU or able to join as an independent country at a relatively early date.

Individual MEPs across Europe have said an application for membership from Scotland would be welcome. Our petition requests the EU Parliament endorse that position. We ask it is considered as submitted whilst EU citizens, even if the process may take a little longer. The petition to the EU Parliament is also part of an Open Letter to the EU Commission.

As ordinary citizens we plan to continue campaigning for Scotland’s place in Europe until such time as full membership is achieved.

The full version of our petition and our Open Letter to the EU Parliament and EU Commission is available on www.equalitynation.org