Gunther Krichbaum, a member of Angela Merkel's conservatives and chairman of the European affairs committee in parliament, said an independent Scotland would be welcome to join the European Union.
"The EU will still consist of 28 member states, as I expect a new independence referendum in Scotland, which will then be successful," said
"We should respond quickly to an application for admission from the EU-friendly country," he told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Sunday that Scotland will do whatever it takes to remain in the EU, including potentially blocking legislation on a British exit from the bloc.
While Britain as a whole voted narrowly to leave the EU in last Thursday's referendum, Scotland voted by a 62 per cent to 38 per cent margin to remain.
In a referendum in 2014 Scotland voted 55 per cent to 45 per cent to stay part of the United Kingdom, but polls show that support for independence has since risen.
No new offers for Britain to stay in EU
The European Union will not make Britain any fresh offers to keep it in the bloc and it cannot be "half a partner", German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has said.
"The British have now decided to go. We will not hold talks about what the EU can still offer the Britons to keep them in," Gabriel said in excerpts from an interview released on Sunday.
In contrast to conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel, who on Saturday struck a conciliatory tone towards Britain by calling for clear-headed negotiations with the "close partner", Gabriel took a tough stance on the EU's future ties with London.
"It is clear: You can't be a bit pregnant. Nor have half a partnership," he said.
Gabriel, a Social Democrat, criticised British Prime Minister David Cameron for "his grand and historic blunder" in calling the referendum that resulted in Britons' 52-48 per cent vote to exit the EU, and called for him to go soon.
"Britons will one day curse" Boris Johnson, the leading Brexit campaigner, Gabriel added.
Earlier, Merkel's chief of staff said Britain's politicians should take time to review the consequences of leaving the EU, but he stressed he did not mean they should rethink the Brexit decision itself.
"Politicians in London should take the time to reconsider the consequences of the Brexit decision -- but by that I emphatically do not mean Brexit itself," Peter Altmaier told Reuters.
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