If they continue to use sterling without a currency union then they couldn't re-join the EU as a central bank is required so that isn't an option.
Indeed they do, but if Scotland wants to join the EU I cannot use sterling without a currency union because if they do so, an independent Scotland would technically have no central bank. EU rules stipulate that member-states must have a central bank and so using sterling without a currency union is not an option if Scotland wants to successfully join the EU after voting for independence.
I have some awareness of the central bank criteria as apply to eurozone candidacy, but am unfamiliar with same with regard to EU membership.
I'd be grateful if you could help me with a citation as to where in the Copenhagen Criteria or the acquis that speaks to EU applicant states requiring a central bank (and how that is defined); and, also, grateful if you could comment on whether a central bank which elects to in effect maintain a currency union, by shadowing interest rate changes and so forth, meets the same criterion.
