THE Scottish Government has called for cuts to "unnecessary and burdensome red tape" from Brussels as it urges the European Union to reconnect with its citizens.
As the Yes Scotland and Better Together campaigns dispute the hypothetical terms and timescales of bloc membership for an independent Scotland, the country's External Affairs Secretary, Fiona Hyslop, has set out the devolved administration's case for EU reform.
In an official paper two years in the making, Ms Hyslop and fellow SNP ministers - still among the UK's most enthusiastic Euro-philes - warn against "comp-etence creep" by EU institutions while stressing they do not share the UK view that current treaties must be renegotiated before an in-out referendum.
Their aim, the paper under-lines, is to disarm growing Euroscepticism across the continent and help nudge the union away from austerity and back towards its long-standing goals on the environment and fighting youth unemployment.
Ms Hyslop, writing in today's Herald said "a key priority" for the incoming Commission and the parliament voted in this May must be to restore public confidence in EU institutions.
She said: "Regulatory reforms are needed to address the stock of EU legislation which imposes unnecessary burdens on enterprise and citizens and ensure that the EU only legislates where necessary and, even then, in the least intrusive way possible.
"This is a vision that can be achieved within the existing framework of the EU Treaties and one that contrasts sharply with the approach advocated by the current UK government - an approach that I believe is fundamentally damaging Scotland's interests within the EU."
The Government's paper, Scotland's Agenda for EU Reform, published today, said: "Arguably the most common criticism levelled against the EU is that it enacts unnecessary and burdensome legislation, often across policy areas and on specific issues that could more appropriately be addressed by member states through national, regional or local legislation.
"Not only does this offend those citizens who are fearful of 'competence creep' on the part of the EU at the expense of national law-making, it is frequently associated with unnecessarily burdensome red tape that serves only to undermine the competitiveness of European industry and damage greatly the prospects for our small and medium-sized enterprises."
The paper also called for the Europe 2020 scheme, the Commission's response to the financial crisis, to be re-invigorated.
This policy, due for a mid-term review, set key targets for raising employment, fighting poverty and boosting both education and investment across the bloc.
However, the Scottish paper said the EU would have to ensure member states had "sufficient fiscal capacity" to make progress to these targets, a clear appeal to ease austerity.
This "social Europe" agenda, the government said, chimed with its own policy priorities.
The SNP has been eager to underline its - and Scotland's - Europhile credentials when dealing with Brussels.
The party has already said it can "do business" with incoming European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, despite hostility to independence in some EU capitals. Pro-UK critics are sceptical about such overtures to Brussels.
Michael Keating, director of Scottish Centre on Constitutional Change, said the paper under-lined a "significant" gulf between the SNP and the Tories.
He said: "Scotland is not interested in renegotiation or treaty change.
"The UK government by contrast, is committed to significant change, although it has had difficulty specifying exactly what it wants.
"The Scottish Government's reference to a social Europe is also significant because social issues have recently taken second place to austerity in the EU.
"There may be some tension between the desire for a social Europe and the emphasis on lifting burdens on business but the reference is to 'unnecessary burdens' about which everyone would surely agree."
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