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| - Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon visited EU officials in Brussels on Monday, her usual warm welcome partly overshadowed by the upcoming dispute on fishing quotas -- and a Brexit Night political stunt. Scotland left the European Union on January 31 with the rest of the United Kingdom, and the first minister was visiting to underline it wants to come back one day to rejoin as an independent state. There is sympathy for Scotland in Brussels -- MEPs sang Auld Lang Syne at the last parliamentary session attended by British colleagues, and some here have promised to "leave a light on" for its return. But in practical and legal terms, future cross-Channel relations will be negotiated by the EU's Michel Barnier and pro-Brexit UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government. Sturgeon said Scotland would try to exert political influence on the process, and that she favours close alignment between UK and EU rules to allow trade to continue seamlessly. But the very first item on the trade agenda could show up contradictions in the Scottish stance. While most Scottish voters backed the "Remain" campaign in the 2016 Brexit referendum, Scotland's fishermen are just as keen as their English neighbours to escape Brussels' rules. Johnson has vowed to "take back control" of UK waters and to negotiate access for EU vessels as an "independent coastal state" -- presumably meaning bigger catches for Scottish boats. But France, Denmark, the Netherlands and some other EU members have urged Barnier not to proceed with trade talks unless London continues to give their fleets access and "upholds" the current system. On the one hand, Sturgeon wants Britain to align with EU rules to ensure continued market access -- and on the other her government has also called for reform of EU fisheries policy. In Brussels, she said this was a dilemma for Johnson to sort out. "I think Boris Johnson has to find a way of delivering on the promise to the fishing community on the independence and control of access points, while also securing access to markets," she said. "I don't pretend that is an easy circle for him to square but it was his party that made the promises and I think there will be lots of people in Scotland looking to see how he delivers on that. "So it's not either or, it's both and it's over to him." Sturgeon was also quizzed about a stunt that her Scottish National party carried out on Brexit night, when the words Scotland and Europe and a red love heart were projected onto the wall of EU headquarters. At the time, Sturgeon tweeted a photo of the projection, noting that a single office window was still illuminated. "The EU Commission building in Brussels tonight (and if you look carefully you'll see that they do appear to have left a light on for us!)" she wrote. Some took this as a suggestion that the commission supports Scotland's fight against Brexit, but an EU spokeswoman told reporters on Monday that the projection was unauthorised. "We have just one interlocutor in relation to the future partnership with the UK and that is of course London," spokeswoman Dana Spinant said, adding that the matter had been "taken up with" Belgian police. Sturgeon said she had only just been made aware of the comment, but added: "The only comments I've had here today ... have been entirely positive about what seems to have been interpreted as a really positive show of love and solidarity from Scotland to Europe." dc/arp/pma
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