Britain would have to re-negotiate its EU membership if Scotland voted for independence, senior EU sources told AFP as Scotland and England fight a high-stakes referendum battle.
The possible break-up of the United Kingdom made international headlines last week when Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond and British Prime Minister David Cameron clashed on a vote now set for 2014.
Issues include whether Scotland would have to "exit and re-apply" for European Union membership, raising questions about whether it would then have to adopt the crisis-hit euro, unlike London.
But lawyers for the EU said an independent Scotland could be treated as one of two successor states, and that a separate seat for Edinburgh would require only a majority vote among member states.
At the European Council, where leaders stage decisive summits, a deal could be "done by the Council, using qualified majority voting and with the required say-so of the European Parliament," said one of those lawyers.
Cameron last month opted out of a re-negotiation of the EU's Lisbon Treaty on which this guidance is based.
Standard procedure for external accession...
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