Senior members of Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales will today (Tuesday 12 October) meet with the Secretary of State for Wales, Peter Hain, to discuss boosting Wales' role in the European Union. The discussions take place in the context of the ongoing debate surrounding the proposed EU Constitution.
Plaid Cymru’s parliamentary leader, Elfyn Llwyd MP and Deputy Leader of the party, Jill Evans MEP will tell Mr Hain that Plaid Cymru wants an undertaking from the UK Government to strengthen Welsh representation in European decision making and to bolster the status of the Welsh language in the EU. Plaid Cymru wants to see Welsh Assembly Government Ministers represented in the UK delegation at high level European talks when Welsh interests are at stake.
Speaking ahead of today's meeting Plaid Cymru’s parliamentary leader, Elfyn Llwyd MP said:
“Plaid Cymru was the first party in the UK to call for a written European Constitution and a binding Charter of Fundamental Rights. We believe the constitution offers the UK Government the opportunity to strengthen Wales's role in Europe and improve accountability and this is what we will be discussing with Mr Hain today.
“Issues such as the role of the National Assembly within a growing EU and the status of the Welsh language within the Union are matters of great importance to the people of Wales. Plaid Cymru will put pressure on the government to take these issues into account when considering Wales’s role in Europe.”
Plaid Cymru’s deputy leader, Jill Evans MEP added:
"Lots of important decisions that affect the lives of the people of Wales are made in Europe without anything approaching meaningful consultation with our elected representatives. We want to see guarantees that in future Welsh Ministers will take part in the UK delegation to the Council of Ministers when the subjects being discussed are relevant to Wales. We also want to see the proposed constitution translated into Welsh and a Wales only result declared in any referendum.
“On the Welsh language, new and exciting developments in Spain and Ireland mean that languages like Irish, Catalan and Basque might soon be added to the list of Europe's official languages. We would like an undertaking from Government that they will seize this opportunity to seek the same status for Welsh. We would like to see people able to correspond with the EU institutions in Welsh and for Welsh speaking politicians to be allowed to speak the language at EU talks.
“Last week we saw how easily some people can leave Wales off the map of Europe, Plaid Cymru will never let that happen."
Diwedd/Ends
Notes to Editors:
1. Elfyn Llwyd and Jill Evans will meet Peter Hain at 10:00am, Tuesday 12 October 2004.
2. Elfyn Llwyd and Jill Evans will be available for interview from 11:00am. For interviews, please contact Gwenllian on 07980 013842.
3. The UK Government has the ability to strengthen Wales's role under the new constitution and improve accountability. Plaid’s parliamentary leader, Elfyn Llwyd MP, and the party’s vice president and Euro-MP Jill Evans, will present the following five key points to Mr Hain and the UK Government:
* the National Assembly will be consulted by the UK government before the Commission publishes proposals relevant to its powers as will the ‘national’ parliaments of member states
* when deciding if a proposal infringes the jurisdiction of a national or regional institution under the protocol on subsidiarity the House of Commons should exercise one of the UK’s votes and the other should be decided by the legislative assemblies of the devolved territories either in rotation or by negotiation
* the devolved territories should have representation on all relevant UK delegations in the Council of Ministers and in the preparatory meetings of COREPER
* the Constitution should be translated into Welsh and sent to the Council by the UK within 6 months of ratification, as is provided for in Article IV - 10 of the constitution
* the result of the referendum should be declared separately for Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland as there will be distinctive debates in the different nations. We have had confirmation from The Electoral Commission that they intend to make a Welsh result available but this should be specified in the referendum bill
Diwedd/End
