We cannot turn a deaf ear to calls for independence
AT FIRST glance, the Scottish independence and promised EU referendums may be seen as purely of academic interest to the constitutional diehards in Guernsey.
AT FIRST glance, the Scottish independence and promised EU referendums may be seen as purely of academic interest to the constitutional diehards in Guernsey.
But both have the power to bring about unintended consequences for the Crown Dependencies – and opportunities as well.
And in the background is the UK's balance of competencies review, which is examining where power lies between it and Europe.
If Guernsey does not stay in tune to what happens around it and, crucially, get its voice heard, the island's relationship with its outside partners could be undermined.
David Cameron's EU referendum promises everything to everyone, being so vague as not to anger either side in the debate.
But advice in the Channel Islands has been unequivocal, especially in Jersey's parliament, that if the UK was to leave the EU then protocol three, which defines the islands' relationship with Europe, would be thrown away.
Protocol three is very much a reflection of the time it was drawn up, 1973, concerned as it is with trade and the free movement of goods – designed to ensure that Guernsey's tomatoes did not get stuck at the docks.
It is doubtful that the island's authorities would want proactively open the door to a redrafting of the protocol, but it is fair to say that the world is a very different place to when it was drawn up.
Just look at the way it left the door open to complaints over claims made about food supplements shipped from the Channel Islands that would not have been allowed in Europe – the bad neighbour argument.
We may not be in Europe, but in so many ways it influences law-making in the islands, if simply to keep access to a marketplace so crucial to the success of the finance industry.
The Scottish independence move also concerns itself with Europe.
Yesterday legal opinion was issued by the UK government suggesting that an independent Scotland would be left with a lot of negotiating to do to become a member of the various international bodies such as the EU.
It would mean, too, that the smaller United Kingdom would also have to renegotiate its position with the EU, which may again impact on protocol three.
At the very least, the island needs to make sure the UK thinks about the islands in any new settlement it arrives at.
But Guernsey no doubt will also be investigating whether there are opportunities to be
exploited, any chance for the island to have more of a voice in European policy making, which can impact so heavily on what it does.
There are, after all, island member states of the EU, although Malta has a population twice that of the Channel Islands combined.
Other options if protocol three was to fall away could also include becoming a member of the European Economic Area, which comprises the EU member states and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, allowing those three jurisdictions to participate in the internal European market and become signatories in their own right of various conventions.
But while they have to adopt EU law relating to the European market, their voice is somewhat muted.
Conversely, a new relationship might create extra burdens that a small island community cannot cope with, especially legislatively in terms of complying with EU directives.
There is a flexibility about the current relationship which leaves the Crown Dependencies free at times to take a different path.
The balance of competencies review should conclude in the run-up to the UK General Election, a happy coincidence perhaps.
It may pass by under the radar, but with Europe being such a hot political potato for the Conservatives it is hard not to see it making headlines and sparking healthy debate.
It will form the background to the UK looking to renegotiate and repatriate powers ahead of the referendum, although that itself is dependent on Cameron winning another term.
The coming years are not just for the politicos and academics to follow passively.
Guernsey will be engaging in the debate and making sure it has a route mapped out should things begin to unravel in a way that is not in the island's best interests.
It is also why the work on becoming more independent, and the options for doing that, is so valuable.
