EU expresses joy at Scotland's 'No'

Fears of separatism in Europe continue to trouble diplomats across continent

European Union and NATO officials expressed undisguised relief on Friday at Scotland's clear vote against independence from the United Kingdom, but some fretted that the genie of separatism may be out of the bottle in Europe.

EU partners had mostly kept quiet in the run-up to Thursday's referendum, lest their fears of a breakup of the UK leading to contagion elsewhere in Europe be seized upon as interference.

'Cataclysmic'

But as soon as the Scottish "no" was secure, they voiced satisfaction and drew consequences for their own countries, for the 28-nation EU and for the Western alliance.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen congratulated British Prime Minister David Cameron and said he was sure the UK would continue to play a leading role in keeping the US-led defense alliance strong.

Spain's two mainstream national parties welcomed the outcome as showing that the northwestern region of Catalonia, expected to announce bitterly opposed plans on Friday for its own independence referendum, would be better off staying in Spain.

In Brussels, the European Commission said the Scottish vote was good for a "united, open and stronger Europe" - a veiled message that EU officials hope the outcome will strengthen chances of the UK voting to stay in the bloc in a promised referendum in 2017.

"The European Commission welcomes the fact that during the debate over the past years, the Scottish government and the Scottish people have repeatedly reaffirmed their European commitment," Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said.

Belgian EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, whose native Flanders region has a growing nationalist movement, said a Scottish split would have been "cataclysmic" for Europe, triggering a domino effect across the continent.

"If it had happened in Scotland, I think it would have been a political landslide on the scale of the breakup of the Soviet Union," said De Gucht, a liberal who does not support demands from some of his fellow Flemings for their own state.

Bigger pressure

Even before Scottish polls closed, French President Francois Hollande expressed his fear of a possible "deconstruction" of Europe after decades of closer integration.

"That is what is happening at the moment, this conjunction of centrifugal forces that is losing sight of the European objective," he said in a news conference on Thursday.

France is one of the EU's most centralized states, with little support for independence movements in Corsica, Britanny and the Basque Country. But other member states such as Spain, Italy and Belgium face bigger pressure for decentralization.

The president of the European Parliament, German Social Democrat Martin Schulz, told Deutschlandfunk radio that while he had refrained from commenting on an internal British matter before the vote, he was "relieved by the result".

Reuters - AFP - Xinhua

A lone "Yes" campaign supporter walks down a street in Edinburgh, Scotland, after the result of the Scottish independence referendum on Friday. Stefan Rousseau / Associated Press

(China Daily 09/20/2014 page11)