Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond kicks off our Scottish independence feature by saying that his “ancient European country… has a great future as an independent and equal member of the 21st century family of European nations”. “Continued membership of Europe is central to our vision of an independent Scotland,” writes Salmond, adding that Scotland’s membership will surely be accepted in an "EU which is true to the union’s founding ideals”. Salmond is also critical of the “virulent Euroscepticism” affecting the UK’s government and underlines than an independent Scotland would be “an enthusiastic, engaged and committed contributor” to the European project.