Eurostat, the organisation that carries out opinion surveys for the European Union, became famous earlier this year for publishing a map of Europe from which Wales had disappeared. I have always said that my job as an MEP is to put Wales on the map but I never imagined I would have to do it literally!
Making the EU aware of Wales and promoting Wales in Europe guides everything I do in the Parliament. I use every opportunity to talk about Wales and ensure that Wales gets the benefits that other countries have.
One of the best examples of this is on workers rights. Legislation on the consultation of workers, on company takeovers, on pensions, on working time and on part time workers has been adopted in other countries but blocked in the UK leaving Welsh workers at a disadvantage. We have seen the affects of this so clearly in the case of Corus where people read in the press that they were being made redundant; or in the case of Friction Dynamex where people were sacked for going on strike; or in the case of ASW where peoples' pensions were lost. If European laws had been in force, these situations could have been avoided or at least made less traumatic. I worked for five years on these issues on the Employment and Social Affairs Committee and liaised in particular with trades unions in Wales.
I also work on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee which is my main committee in Parliament. This is one of the most important committees in Parliament because it has joint law making power on many environmental issues with the Council of Ministers. The biggest issues in the coming months are issues which I know are of tremendous importance to people in Wales. The first is REACH - the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals. I have taken part in the WWF/WI blood monitoring survey which showed I had 33 different man-made chemicals in my blood. We don't know the real affects that all the chemicals we use in our every day lives have on our health so it is vital that we have proper controls over the chemicals we produce.
Food labelling is another issue which I will be following closely. We all buy foods which make claims on the labels to improve our health and wellbeing so it's important that we know they are true. A product which contains little sugar or fat may actually contain high levels of salt so we need to know that, especially when the foods are aimed at children.
I also sit on the Regional Development Committee which is preparing for the next round of structural funds from 2006. I will work with partners in Wales to get the money that Wales deserves from the European regional funds and to lobby the UK Government not to scrap the funds. It's unfortunate that Objective 1 has not brought the dramatic change to the Welsh economy that we hoped it would - we're still poor enough to qualify for Objective 1 if the "statistical effect" of having 10 new member states isn't taken into account. There's a lot of work left to do in building a sustainable economy for Wales and decisions on structural funds and the EU budget, (which the UK Government is trying to cut as well!) are crucial.
Wales has a proud tradition of international solidarity, peace and justice. I try and representative these views on a European level and internationally. The parliament has consistently opposed the US & UK attack on Iraq. I am a member of the parliament's delegation for relations with the Palestine Authority and have visited Israel and Palestine regularly to meet organisations and politicians who are trying to work for peace and a solution to the conflict in the Middle East that is fair to Israel and Palestine. I have also undertaken initiatives against the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the Mayor of Hiroshima, who has seen the effects of nuclear weapons and is a leading campaigner against them, will be visiting the parliament in January at my invitation.
I strongly believe that Wales's future is in Europe - but not this kind of Europe. There are many reforms needed to make the EU structures more open and accountable, to get a better balance between the free market provisions and social considerations and to make the public feel they are part of the decision making.
I work for a Europe within which Wales can play a full role and take its rightful place alongside the other nations - six of which are smaller than Wales.
We are under a clear disadvantage compared to Estonia, Latvia or Malta who have Commissioners, votes in the Council and more MEPs. So we must make the most of every opportunity to raise the profile of Wales. I do this by talking about Wales whenever I speak in the parliament, organising visits from organisations in Wales and speakers from Wales in conferences, creating links between organisations and other countries and dealing with constituents problems by contacting the Commission or organising a petition to the parliament.
Most recently I was the first member to take advantage of a change in the parliament rules and speak Welsh in the chamber - although without translation at the moment. In the wake of enlargement there are now twenty working languages in the EU and Plaid Cymru believes that the same right should be given to people who want to use the Welsh language with the EU. There have been exciting developments in this respect in recent months, with Ireland and Spain asking for a stronger status for Irish and Basque, Galician and Catalan. I'm campaigning and lobbying the UK Government to make a similar proposal about Welsh.
Jill Evans ASE/MEP
