WE still don’t have any confirmation on a second independence referendum, but already social media is like Groundhog Day, same old threats, same old dismissiveness, same old scare stories. The decision by the Scottish Government to announce that it’s setting plans in motion to create a Scottish currency in the event of independence were met with the predictable sulks of sneerage from the usual suspects about groats and ginger bottles.

Amongst those in whom the Cringe is strong Scotland couldn’t possibly have a currency of its own. Scotland wouldn’t be able to do what countries like Estonia, Latvia, or Slovenia did with smaller populations, far weaker economies and far more challenging circumstances. Because Scotland, for some unspecified Unionist reasons, is uniquely incapable. Over 300 years of the Union have reduced Scotland to the status of a helpless quivering wreck that can only aspire to be a bit of a joke, and yet this is supposedly an argument for remaining within the Union that has traduced us so. Something doesn’t compute.

The same people who insist that Scotland will be spending groats and ginger bottles are also insisting at the same time that we’ll be forced to adopt the euro. The ginger bottle isn’t a recognised sub-unit of the euro but then consistency was never the top priority when a Unionist media outlet is seeking a means of denigrating Scottish independence.

The euro myth is probably one of the most persistent of all the Unionist myths about independence, despite the fact it was done to death during the last independence referendum campaign. And note how we can now talk about the last independence campaign, because now there’s going to be another. The assertion that an independent Scotland would be forced to join the euro is a widespread myth up there with the myth that the Great Wall of China is visible from space (it isn’t), or the myth that a goldfish has a memory of three seconds (it doesn’t). These are all things that people assert simply because they’ve heard others assert them. They’ve never bothered to check. Actually a goldfish can remember things for as long as three months, which is considerably longer than most Unionist politicians can remember that their pet myths have been debunked before.

All sorts of people who really ought to know better keep repeating the myth that an independent Scotland will be forced to adopt the euro and all sorts of media outlets who really ought to know better allow them to propagate the myth without challenging them. I’m being kind here and calling it a myth. Another, and possibly more accurate, term for it is big fat deliberate bare-faced lie. Some of the people who repeat what we’re kindly calling the Euro-myth know fine well that it’s untrue.

The truth is that Scotland can’t be forced to adopt the euro and even if we did decide to adopt it, it would be several years before it became the Scottish currency. The likelihood of Scotland being forced to adopt the euro the morning after independence is even lower than the chance that Ruth Davidson will stand up in the Scottish Parliament and say, “Scottish independence isn’t such a bad idea after all. And you know, I don’t even like tanks.”

No country can be forced to adopt the Euro. Despite the fevered imaginations of the Brexiteers, the EU is not a fascist unitary state bent on imposing things on member countries against their will. Members of the EU sign up to the principle that a single currency for the entire EU is a good idea, because it is a good idea, but in practical terms the EU can neither force member states to adopt it nor punish them if they don’t. If an independent Scotland decides that it doesn’t wish to adopt the euro it won’t adopt the Euro.

Joining the euro involves a number of steps. First of all the member state needs to have its own currency, so first of all Scotland would have to establish a separate Scottish currency. Secondly the member state needs to sign up to the European Exchange Rate mechanism, ERMII, and be a member of this for at least two years. Crucially the timing and decision to do so is entirely up to the member state concerned. It’s up to a member state to decide when the time is right for it to sign up to the ERMII, and it’s entirely within the right of a member state to decide that the time is never right.

Other EU member states have effectively rejected joining the euro without a formal opt-out. Sweden hasn’t joined the Exchange Rate Mechanism II (ERMII) and it is vanishingly unlikely that it will do so as a referendum in the country rejected joining the euro.

The attitude of Sweden is that the time is not right for it to sign up to the ERMII, and the chances are that the time will never be right. The EU can’t force Sweden to join the euro and it has no desire to force it to do so either.

The Czech Republic is also highly reluctant to join the euro. A few years ago there was a discussion by the Czech government about whether to seek a formal opt-out along the lines of the euro opt-out that the UK has. However the then Czech prime minister Petr Ne?as stated that the Czech Republic didn’t need a formal opt-out as it already has an effective opt-out because it cannot be forced to sign up to ERMII. Opinion polls in the Czech Republic show very little support for joining the eurozone.

Most of the myths about the EU rest upon stereotypes beloved by the right-wing UK media and have no basis in reality. The Brexit- supporting press would have us believe that the EU blindly applies rules and regulations irrespective of circumstances, like a glorified version of a German tourist who puts their towel on the UK’s deckchair.

The EU doesn’t force member nations to do things that they don’t want to do. It’s the Westminster Parliament that forces member nations of the UK to do things that they don’t want to do. It’s forcing Scotland out of the EU against its will. It’s forcing Scotland to accept Trident even though our elected representatives are overwhelmingly against it.

So when supporters of the Westminster Parliament tell Scotland that the EU will impose things on us, let’s not forget who’s really doing the imposing.

Whether an independent Scotland ever adopts the euro will be a decision for the government of an independent Scotland: it won’t be imposed by Brussels.