Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon | Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Sturgeon plays down comments by fired Spanish diplomat Diplomat’s letter made headlines in Scotland and Spain.

A Spanish diplomat who was fired for saying Madrid would not stop an independent Scotland joining the EU was simply restating the official Spanish position, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Tuesday.

Sturgeon declined to say whether she thinks Spanish Consul Miguel Ángel Vecino Quintana had been treated unfairly over his comments, made in a letter to an executive at a Scottish newspaper which was copied to the Scottish government.

“The letter that was written and appeared in the media seemed to me to be a restatement of the position that Spain had already taken," Sturgeon told POLITICO in an interview in Brussels.

"The nub of that really is that for all that Spain is held up as the country that would be difficult for Scotland’s entry into the EU, Spain has never said that they would veto Scotland’s membership," Sturgeon said.

"They’ve been clear to say: As long as Scotland makes a decision constitutionally and democratically, they would not veto it. So it seemed to me that all the consul general was doing in that letter was restating a position that Spain has already had.”

The letter sparked controversy in both Scotland and Spain. Spanish media reported on Saturday that the consul had been dismissed from his post. Spain's foreign ministry told El País that Vecino had "crossed the line" and that "it is not appropriate ... for him to make a statement of this political nature."

Asked if she felt the consul had been hard done by, Sturgeon replied: "I don't know what the circumstances [are] ... I take the view that issues of who the representatives of particular governments are in other countries are matters for those governments. And it would be, I think, inappropriate and not entirely well-informed for me to speculate on his position or why he might no longer be in that position."

In the letter, obtained by pro-independence Scottish daily the National, Vecino wrote: "Spain will not block Scotland’s entry into the European Union if independence is legally achieved and such has always been the intention of the Spanish Government."

Spain is often portrayed as one of the major obstacles to an independent Scotland becoming an EU member, on the grounds that Scottish independence could encourage Catalonia and other regions of Spain to break away. The Scottish government has said it plans to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence in the second half of next year.

Vecino sent the letter to the Herald in order to contradict comments the newspaper carried by Spanish MEP Esteban González Pons. On the campaign trail before a general election in April, Pons said that his center-right Popular Party would veto any entry of Scotland into the EU before the conclusion of Brexit negotiations.

The PP, which is not in government in Spain, is vehemently opposed to Catalan independence.