As Scotland fights to stay in the EU, Spain vows keep it out

Spain just made Scotland's battle to remain in the European Union that much harder. On Wednesday, as Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon met with European Parliament chiefs to negotiate her country's membership in the trade bloc, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy vowed to block Scotland's attempts to remain after Britain's vote to exit.

During the second day of an emergency EU summit in Brussels, Rajoy announced that he is "extremely against" the EU accepting Scotland independent of the rest of the U.K., and said that "if the U.K. goes, Scotland goes too." "I want to be very clear," Rajoy said. "Scotland does not have the competence to negotiate with the European Union. Spain opposes any negotiation by anyone other than the government of the United Kingdom." Rajoy's sentiments have been echoed by other EU officials who say that Scotland must declare its independence from the U.K. before it can apply to or join the EU.

However, Sturgeon has already said that a declaration of independence from the U.K. is not out of the question. Although Britain elected to exit the EU, Scotland overwhelmingly voted to remain, 62 percent to 38 percent.

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