Germany: SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon receives award for defence of European values

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M/S Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon receiving M100 award from German media, Potsdam
SOT, Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish First Minister: "I've been given this award for standing strongly against Brexit and for strongly supporting the principles, the values of the European Union. However those stances don't strike me as being particularly exceptional. They seem entirely natural to me and to most people in Scotland and I'm going to explain perhaps why that is in my remarks this evening. But perhaps the best starting point I can think of is a speech made by Chancellor [Angela] Merkel at this event a few years ago. She argued then that a country's policies represent its interests based on its values. Scotland is and I think always will be a European nation, a committed supporter of the European Union, not because we think the European Union is flawless, nor even simply because membership of the European Union is so obviously in our interests. but perhaps most importantly of all because membership of the European Union accords so strongly with our values as a country."
SOT, Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish First Minister: "It is no exaggeration at all to see that we are living in unprecedented times in the United Kingdom, both politically and constitutionally. At a time of mounting political crisis, the new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has taken the extraordinary step of closing down the United Kingdom Parliament for a period of five weeks to avoid scrutiny of his approach to the Brexit negotiations. That decision by the prime minister and the United Kingdom Government of course was declared last week by Scotland's highest civil court to be an unlawful decision. And of course it is now subject to a hearing before the UK's Supreme Court this week which will lead to a decision perhaps later this week or early next week. And that judgement potentially will take the United Kingdom into even greater uncharted waters."
SOT, Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish First Minister: "Even if Scotland is forced to leave the EU we will work hard to maintain EU standards and will therefore, I hope, be better placed to rejoin in the future. But of course there is a limited amount that the Scottish Government can do within the current system which is why I believe it is also right to offer the people of Scotland a choice of becoming an independent country and seeking to become an EU member state in our own rate."
M/S Sturgeon ending speech *NO SOUND AT SOURCE*
SCRIPT
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon received an award by German media for her pro-European stance and standing against Brexit in Potsdam on Tuesday.
"Scotland is and I think always will be a European nation, a committed supporter of the European Union," Sturgeon told the audience after receiving the M100 award.
"Even if Scotland is forced to leave the EU we will work hard to maintain EU standards and will therefore, I hope, be better placed to rejoin in the future," Sturgeon continued. "I believe it is also right to offer the people of Scotland a choice of becoming an independent country and seeking to become an EU member state in our own rate."