The leader of Shetland Islands Council believes it would be an “absolute disaster” for Scotland to lose its links with the EU following Britain’s decision to quit.
Gary Robinson made the claim as a EU seminar on economic development in rural locations was held in Lerwick on Friday, despite the UK’s exit from the union looming.
The EU’s committee of the regions (CoR) territorial cohesion chairman Raffaele Cattaneo backed the council chief by suggesting the EU exit was a “great mistake”.
The one-day CoR seminar at Mareel, entitled Overcoming Barriers To Economic Development – A Remote Island Perspective, stemmed from an invitation from Shetland Islands Council leader Gary Robinson last year.
The Mareel auditorium was packed with delegates from countries including Greece, Latvia and Slovakia.
When asked how funding will be affected post-EU exit, Mr Robinson said it is unclear how things will pan out.
“I don’t think at this stage we know what Brexit is going to be, or indeed if Brexit itself is going to be,” he said.
“I think it’s going to run for a long time.
“It’s certainly my vote that we can, if not remain in the European Union ultimately, certainly retain very strong links with Europe, because I think it’d be an absolute disaster for any other scenario to come about.
“We trade with Europe, we’ve traded with Europe historically going back hundreds of years, so to suggest we can somehow cut ourselves off from Europe and start trading with the Australians instead is to my mind ridiculous.”