Accommodating an independent Scotland: how a British-style constitution for the EU could secure Scotland’s future

There is a marked wariness at EU level about the prospect of Scottish independence. Commentators have been quick to put this down to a fear of 'independence contagion' on the part of countries like Spain. This is only part of the picture. Much of the nervousness is in fact due to the emergence of tricky instances of 'multi-speed' integration and the fear of having two tricky members at the EU's western periphery instead of one. Ironically perhaps, British-style constitutional thinking on flexibility could prove useful in reducing the bloc's difficulties with asymmetry that motivate its hostility towards Scottish independence, write Roderick Parkes and Arno Engel in this Discussion Paper.