Germany’s Bavarian Party, which has campaigned for independence from the German state for decades, is eagerly awaiting the results of Scotland’s forthcoming independence vote this week.

It believes that a successful pro-independence campaign would create political momentum for a similar vote in Germany. 

“A ‘Yes’ vote would have a positive effect on other regions in Europe. For us in Bavaria it would be a real boost and it would no longer be so easy for our media to negate or ridicule this topic,” Florian Weber, the Bavaria Party’s leader, told a local German media outlet.

However, Germany’s government dismissed the idea.

“I deem that to be an almost absurd thought,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told reporters. 

The Bavarian Party’s popular support has dropped significantly over the last several decades. In the 1950s it gained almost 18 percent of the vote.  Last year it gained only 2.1 percent and it hasn’t had a seat in Parliament since 1966.