Staying in the EU is nonsense

It just does not make sense for the SNP to keep complaining that, as part of the UK, they do not have all the fiscal levers needed to help the economy, while all the while they are determined to stay/become part of the EU if Scotland becomes independent, especially in the light of Frau Merkel's most recent comments in which she stated that the EU should have "real rights to intervene in national budgets". Which of those seven rather frightening words does Alex Salmond not understand? Is it only unacceptable to the SNP when England intervenes in Scottish affairs but it's OK if Europe does it? Who would you rather have sticking an oar into our budget - England or Germany? Calton would rather have the former any day of the week. If our First Minister truly wants independence he needs to go for our own bank and our own currency and stay out of the EU. Anything else is just nonsense.

Much ado about nothing

Calton listened to the First Minister's speech in Holyrood earlier today and at the end of it, he had to agree with Willie Rennie - it was all 'much ado about nothing'. OK, so we now have a question (although a second one has not been ruled out) and we have agreement that the Electoral Commission will oversee the referendum. We are still getting a bit bogged down in the details rather than concentrating on the 'substantive arguments', as Ruth Davidson calls them. Thankfully, Douglas Fraser has written an excellent article on an independent Scotland's currency options, which confirms the points Calton has made in earlier posts - in particular, Alex where's your bottle.

Frau Merkel wants to have her kuchen and eat it

Calton makes no apology for once again commenting on events beyond the borders of Scotland because, with our First Minister's avowed desire to see Scotland at the top table in Europe, we ignore what is happening there at our peril. Today the European Central Bank gave out 489bn Euros-worth of 3-year loans to European banks at 1% interest and with lower collateral requirements which is the equivalent of your bank lending you £2000 at 1% for a clapped out old car. The hope is that the banks will use the money to buy up the debt of the likes of Spain and Italy, thus making the ECB a lender to sovereign nations at one remove. In other words, we are only one step away from seeing the ECB become a national bank for the nation of Eurozone, ie fiscal union. And fiscal union means political union. As Angela Merkel said to the Bundestag early this month - "We have started a new phase in European integration ... we aren't just talking about a fiscal union, rather, we have begun creating one." However in the same speech, she also said "A joint liability for others' debts is not acceptable", reiterating the German opposition to the introduction of Eurobonds. This is because, while the Germans want fiscal union, they don't want to be responsible for the debts of other nations like Greece and Spain. A case of the Germans wanting to have their cake and eat it then.

(See also Stephanie Flanders on the BBC News website.)