federation - a federal union of states, ie a group of states united politically by a treaty.

The Maastricht Treaty created a European Union of states and there already is a European Parliament in Strasbourg putting the finishing touches to a Fundamental Charter of Fundamental Rights for all European Union citizens:-

A federal Europe *is* being built, and will be built with or without Scottish or UK involvement, but UK politicians and media outlets are still in a state of almost delusional denial about it to a large extent IMO. Brown's 5 tests to join the euro are almost comic as they ignore the political aspects of the euro being a key building block of European integration almost entirely. If Scotland wants to be independent in Europe then it is time to start think independently of this insular Westminster-centric British mindset. It shouldn't be that difficult for most Scots to eventually get their head's around the concept of ceding sovereignty to a larger federal Union while retaining nationhood within a larger political structure. Scotland has been doing it willingly for the most part for the last 300 years or so in formal political terms and in practical terms ever since the Union of the Crowns for the most part. The difference would be that this time Scotland would get a much better deal as the geostrategic political and social conditions have changed drastically from the way things were when Scotland was close to bankrupcy after the Darien disaster and drastically split geographically and religiously between Whigs and Jacobites where the possible return of the Stuarts to the British throne was concerned.

In contrast it is probably much harder for many people in England to adjust to the concept of a federal Europe as they are used to their national capital being at the centre of their political universe and have long stood aloof from continental Europe. It is surprising to see SNP politicians dealing with Europe in Fleet Street tabloid terms, however, but then maybe Alex Neil is still more insular British Old Labour than SNP in his underlying mentality and is more of a protest vote seeking populist than a politician who is genuinely interested in moving Scotland forward to fully embrace the new vista of challenges and opportunities opened up by devolution and the European Union. Neil would appear to me to want to create his own mini-Westminster in Edinburgh by creating an over-centralized interventionist British nanny state in minituare run on the the lines of the traditional UK model of governance which will be a little islet of failed 60's 70's era British style socialism. What Scotland really needs IMO is a new generation of politicians who are able to think independently of the traditional Westminster approach and push things in a different direction from what went on before 1997.

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