{"id":464928,"date":"2026-09-15T11:18:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T09:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/09\/15\/scozia-galles-e-irlanda-del-nord-unite-per-lindipendenza-e-il-ritorno-nella-ue\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T12:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T10:41:14","slug":"scotland-wales-and-northern-ireland-voice-united-calls-for-independence-and-a-return-to-the-eu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/09\/15\/scotland-wales-and-northern-ireland-voice-united-calls-for-independence-and-a-return-to-the-eu\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland voice united calls for independence and a return to the EU"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 Some countries still regard the European Union as a haven. And now there are three more, at least according to their leaders’ intentions. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have joined forces to seek independence from London<\/strong> and, once achieved, to claim the right to rejoin the European Union. A project which, if realised, would completely redraw the political map of the British Isles. <\/p>\n

On 13 September in Cardiff, the leaders of the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru and Sinn F\u00e9in signed a joint memorandum asserting<\/a> the right to self-determination. \u201cThe era of Westminster is drawing to a close,\u201d declared John Swinney<\/strong>, First Minister of Scotland, Rhun ap Iorwerth<\/strong>, First Minister of Wales, and Michelle O\u2019Neill<\/strong>, First Minister of Northern Ireland. The summit was also attended by Mary Lou McDonald<\/strong>, leader of Sinn F\u00e9in. <\/p>\n

The document calls on the British Government to \u201cprepare for and facilitate constitutional change\u201d in the three jurisdictions, because \u201cWestminster has no right to block democracy\u201d or to prevent citizens from deciding their own future. The common aim is therefore to hold referendums that will allow the people of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to choose their own constitutional destiny.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

This convergence comes at an unprecedented moment because, for the first time, the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are led by parties in favour of independence or reunification with Ireland. The path forward, however, is not the same for everyone. Scotland is calling for a new referendum following the 2014 vote, when 55.3 per cent of voters chose to remain in the United Kingdom. Wales, on the other hand, is talking about a “constitutional path” towards independence, but without setting a deadline. Finally, for Northern Ireland, the issue is that of reunification with the Republic of Ireland.<\/p>\n

A European perspective also unites the three movements. In the memorandum, the leaders argue that \u201cthe future of our nations lies in the European Union\u201d and accuse Brexit of having damaged their respective economies.<\/strong> In short, the split from Brussels has ultimately strengthened the desire in some of the nations of the United Kingdom to take a different path from the choice made by Westminster in 2016. <\/p>\n

From London, however, comes a resounding opposition. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham<\/a> reiterated his “strong support for the Union” and rejected the proposals put forward by nationalist leaders, arguing that the government should focus on economic security rather than opening new constitutional debates.<\/p>\n

 Above all, the Scottish issue remains on the table. Westminster continues to oppose a second independence referendum<\/strong>, whilst in Northern Ireland the Good Friday Agreement<\/a> provides for the possibility of a consultation on reunification when there is sufficient evidence that a majority supports it.<\/p>\n

At the very same time, it was precisely on the subject of Ireland that Donald Trump<\/strong> spoke out. During his visit to Dublin, the US President said he would like to \u201csee the island united\u201d, reigniting a debate that London and Northern Irish unionists consider extremely sensitive. \u201cSooner or later it will happen<\/strong>,\u201d the tycoon<\/em> said in the Irish capital, highlighting the benefits which, in his view, would result from the island\u2019s unity. \u201cI think it would be fantastic \u2013 how could it be a bad thing?\u201d he asked, passing the baton to the current Irish Prime Minister, Miche\u00e1l Martin: \u201cHere is the right man to get the process started<\/strong>,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the same time, Donald Trump spoke out on the subject of Ireland. During his visit to Dublin, the US President said he would like to \u201csee the island united\u201d, adding that \u201csooner or later it will happen\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7896,"featured_media":464906,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[35714,34970,31856,27334,35715,30377,26869,29865,26685,26691,33394,27637],"class_list":["post-464928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-accesso-ue","tag-andy-burnham","tag-donald-trump-en","tag-enlargement","tag-galles","tag-independence-en","tag-irlanda-en","tag-micheal-martin-en","tag-northern-ireland-en","tag-scotland-en","tag-ue","tag-kingdom-united-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7896"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464928"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":464929,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464928\/revisions\/464929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}