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August 5th, 2013 
The Scottish and UK governments must break with tradition and publish legal advice on whether an independent Scotland would be admitted to the European Union, the body that represents solicitors in Scotland argues today.
Ministers should disclose the nature of the legal opinion they have received on the issue, the Law Society of Scotland says, to “help provide clarity for voters” in the run-up to next year’s independence referendum.
The call is the first time the body has put pressure on ministers to break with their historic precedent of not revealing government legal advice.
The paper – Scotland’s Constitutional Future: Views, opinions and questions – also questions whether the structure of the Scottish Parliament, with just 129 MSPs, “would be enough to deal with all the new functions“ of an independent state.
The society says that “Scotland would have, in the event of a Yes vote, the capacity to be recognised as an independent state” and be “qualified to join other treaty organisations” such as the defence alliance Nato.
However, the paper’s authors would not say whether an independent Scotland would inherit EU membership or be forced to apply as a new member as it claimed Scottish independence presents the EU with “completely uncharted and unlegislated territory”.
Read more : http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/independence-call-for-legal-advice-on-eu-membership-1-3029688
Icelandic academics warn Scotland over independence
A group of Icelandic academics have warned Scotland that becoming independent would lead to a strategic disadvantage. The experts, who are from the universities of Akureyri and Iceland, claim Scotland would require shelter from stronger nations which will mean costs different from, and possibly not less than, those that they currently contribute to UK defence.
Read more : http://www.icenews.is/2013/08/03/icelandic-academics-warn-scotland-over-independence/
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