Jackson Paschall

Mr. Sebestyen

Honors World Regional Geography

March 16, 2017

Why Scottish independence could be a nightmare for Europe

Part 1

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's unexpectedly called for a new independence

referendum overshadowed the passing of Theresa May's "Brexit bill" this week. The British

Prime Minister angrily denounced Sturgeon for threatening "huge uncertainty," and Downing

Street was forced to deny that it had delayed plans to fire the starting gun on Britain's departure

from the European Union. But while Sturgeon's bold move complicates the British government's

Brexit plan, it also threatens a political and legal headache for Europe. If Scotland did vote to

split from the UK, it might embolden separatist movements elsewhere, in places such as

Catalonia and the Basque country in Spain. Even if Scotland tried argue that it should remain in

the EU even as the rest of the UK left, European diplomats would be faced with an

unprecedented quandary. Sturgeon announced she would seek a referendum between 2018 and

the spring of 2019 before Britain leaves the European Union. By holding the vote before Brexit,

Sturgeon may hope to argue that Scotland could remain part of the EU. Scotland's call for

independence plays on the anxiety about what the EU should become.

Part 2

This current event relates to class because we talked about what could happen if Scotland

left the European Union. The United Kingdom just recently left the European Union and now

many other countries have having votes on whether or not they should stay or leave in the

European Union. Scotland is one of the countries who are trying to figure out what we they will

do. The people of Scotland are about half and half whether they should stay or leave the Union.

This also relates to class because we had a debate on whether or not the European Union should

exist or not. Many countries now want to follow the United Kingdom because they left the

European Union because they realized they could do better not in it. There are many pros to

having the European Union but also a lot of cons, The last way this relates to class is that if

Scotland does leave the EU, it could cause tensions in Europe to rise even and a civil war or a

world war could possibly break out in Europe or across the world with this one move. WE

learned about the first two world wars and I dont think that another one would be too good,

Part 3

I dont think that Scotland should leave the European Union, at least right now. I think

that they have no good reason to leave now and are only doing it because the United Kingdom

left the European Union and now they just want to follow in their path and get out. I also think

that the European Union is good but has too many flaws and need to be easier for countries to

join. The EU keeps countries together and is preventing disaster from happening in Europe. I

think that the United Kingdom made a big mistake leaving the European Union and I think it will

have a series of unfortunate events to come in the near future. Scotland needs to really think over

their decision to stay or leave in the EU because I think if they leave, then the other big countries

will leave in the future which will cause chaos in Europe.

 Works Cited

Mackintosh, Eliza. "Scottish Independence Could Be a Nightmare for Europe." CNN. Cable
News Network, 15 Mar. 2017. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.