Spain's European Affairs Minister contradicted Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond by stating a separate Scotland would need to wait at least five years for EU membership and sign up to the single currency, the Telegraph reported on Tuesday.
"An independent Scotland would be forced to wait at least five years to join the EU and would then have to sign up to the euro", the Spanish government has warned in a major intervention 48 hours before the independence referendum.
Spanish European Affairs Minister Inigo Mendez de Vigo rejected the First Minister’s claims Scotland could negotiate membership from within the EU, saying it would have to apply from scratch and follow the usual accession process.
The new European Commission president has hinted this would take five years and no new member state would be given an opt-out from the single currency.
Salmond used an interview on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show at the weekend to repeat his claim that a separate Scotland would start life in the EU by negotiating entry between a Yes vote on Thursday and actual separation in March 2016.