SCOTLAND AND NATO

Scotland and NATO

News that a meeting was held last month between Scottish government officials and NATO to discuss membership of the alliance in the event of independence, probably didn’t go down to well in with Westminster and the unionists. The talks were held at NATO's headquarters in Brussels. Senior Scottish government officials met with Dirk Brengalmann, the then NATO assistant secretary general for political affairs and security policy.

The meeting was held in early July and was facilitated by the UK's delegation to NATO, who also attended. NATO described the meeting as "informal and informational in nature". Scottish officials took the opportunity to argue that since Scotland was already within the alliance as part of the UK, it should not have to start from scratch in securing membership in the event of a Yes vote in next year's referendum. The SNP Scottish government, is committed to NATO membershipafter independence but has pledged to make nuclear weapons illegal in an independent Scotland.

Now, none of this should surprise anyone very much, as any potentially soon to be independent European state will probably end up talking constructively to NATO. European collective security has, by an large (with the exception of the Bosnian catastrophe) worked and we have managed to avoid any wide scale protracted continental land wars. NATO membership is a good and practical step for any European nation seeking its independence.