How to Become a Global Actor: Scotland's International Legal Personality
DOI | 10.3366/elr.2020.0659 |
Published date | 01 September 2020 |
Date | 01 September 2020 |
Pages | 434-440 |
Author |
The EU exit has bolstered Scotland's international ambitions. The Scottish Government has indicated that it wants the power to “conclude international agreements in areas of Scottish Parliament responsibility” and the “ability to speak in international forums and to secure agreements with other countries”.
As this note will explain, nothing in international law prevents the UK Government from conferring treaty-making powers on Scotland, or from enabling it to speak in international forums. Instead, Scotland's ambitions are limited only by domestic politics.
It is difficult to overstate the importance of the issue. The departure from the EU has fundamentally changed the context for treaty-making in the UK.
While the Scottish Parliament can legislate on some issues, such as fisheries, it has no powers to enter into formal negotiations with international parties to address Scottish interests. A recent report from the House of Lords Select Committee on the Constitution did not “see the need for the devolved legislatures to provide explicit consent to treaties” but it did state that the UK Government “must take their views into account”.
…it must be involved directly in shaping the UK position as well as with any discussions with other countries in order to reflect and protect Scotland's interests. We have yet to have confirmation from the UK Government that this will indeed be the case, that we will be treated as an equal partner and assume the lead negotiating role where we have the majority interest.
International legal personality essentially means that an entity is “capable of possessing international rights and duties and that it has capacity to maintain its rights by bringing international claims”.
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