Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says Scotland is intent on remaining in the European Union, despite last week's British vote to quit the bloc.
After meeting European Parliament president Martin Schulz on Wednesday on a short-notice visit to Brussels, the pro-independence leader told reporters: "Scotland is determined to stay in the EU."
Schulz said he had "listened and learned".
The European Commission rolled out the red carpet for Scotland's first minister on Wednesday, hours after outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron told an EU summit his country would be leaving the EU following last week's referendum.
A spokeswoman for the EU executive said Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker would meet First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in the late afternoon after Britain's 27 partners meet without the UK to discuss how to respond to a Brexit.
They are expected to launch a period of reflection, culminating in a set of EU reform proposals to be unveiled by March of next year, the 60th anniversary of the founding Rome Treaty.
Leaders have said the focus will be on getting a grip on migration, bolstering security and creating jobs and growth.
Sturgeon has said Scotland, where more than 60 per cent of voters said they wanted to stay in the EU, does not want to be forced out of Europe by England, the most populous component of the UK, which voted to leave.
She has raised the prospect of the Scottish parliament trying to block exit legislation, and alternatively holding a new referendum on independence.
The Scottish Nationalist premier was to meet European Parliament president Martin Schulz first in Brussels to discuss the way forward. But the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, who chairs EU summits, turned down her request for a meeting, his spokesman said.
Diplomats said there was a risk that the high-profile welcome for Sturgeon, a day after Cameron's last EU summit, could be seen in London as an encouragement to secession, although EU officials denied any such intention.
Share
