Four and a half years have passed since Plaid Cymru obtained representation in the European Parliament after our sweeping gains in the 1999 elections. It has been an exciting period for the whole of Europe as well as for Welsh representation in Europe. With the arrival of ten new states into the European Union next year, we’re burying once and for all the lie that Wales is too small to stand on her own two feet.
As the excellent research by Gwyn Hopkins shows, a third of the United Nations are smaller than Wales.
Wales will be larger in population than six of the new member-states that will be part of the new Europe - Estonia, Latvia, Slovenia, Malta, Cyprus and of course Luxembourg. Plaid has always stood for a strong voice in Europe for the people of Wales. It’s easy enough to repeat the slogan ‘Wales in Europe’ – but only Plaid Cymru really tries to make this a reality. Only when Wales is an independent Member State in the European Union will we be able to say that we’ve succeeded.
We must be a full member since Europe makes decisions that make a difference to the lives of people in Wales.
But with New Labour at the helm, with its complete indifference towards the people of Wales, we in Wales can’t take full advantage of the opportunities. And the biggest example of this is the fiasco of Objective One.
It was Plaid Cymru that fought to obtain Objective One Status in Wales in the first place.
Plaid Cymru had to ensure that the money came from the Treasury.
And it's Plaid Cymru Local Authorities making sure that the money is being used to revive our communities and better the lives of our people.
And it’ll be Plaid Cymru that fights to ensure that Wales continues to get the help that we deserve from the structural funds while New Labour wants to bring the scheme to an end and take control over everything themselves - even European regional policy.
It has been an exciting and successful conference. It has also been a conference that has made us think seriously about our condition in Wales. Gareth Jones said this morning that this government is creating poverty - ‘New Labour New Poverty’. We see this in our daily work at every level – the difference between rich and poor growing all the time. More within Britain than in any other country in Europe. 52 million people in Europe live in poverty. 245,000 women live in poverty in Wales. 37% of Welsh children live in poverty. That’s Labour control – at every level – the people of Wales are used to it. We lose jobs, we have a high level of poverty among children, and the health service is in a serious condition. Look at the issues that are most important to the people of Wales.
Firstly, workers’ rights. I see the injustice for our workers compared with other countries in Europe with the Labour government blocking laws on consultation for years, and even now when they are passed they insist that they shan’t come into power for five years. It’s cheaper and easier to get rid of jobs or close a factory in Wales that anywhere else. This is completely unacceptable.
Secondly GMO’s. The people of Wales have stated clearly, like the rest of Europe, that they don’t want to grow GMO crops nor buy GMO food. Every poll has showed that. We in Plaid are campaigning for a Wales free from GMOs – as voted unanimously for by the Assembly. So why campaign? Because great pressure must be brought to bear on the Labour Government in the Assembly to compel them to act. It’s possible to have Wales free from GMO – European laws allow that – but they’re afraid to do so. They fear to challenge the government of Tony Blair. Because in London the government is busy fostering GMOs and the big business that produces them – in Europe the British Government was one of the few that voted even against labelling GM foods.
94% of people in the EU have said they don’t want GM food forced upon them and their families. But the biggest supporters of developing this unproven food technology is the London New Labour government. It is the most basic thing that people want to know exactly what they’re eating. This New Labour government doesn’t even believe we have that right. Food is a very political issue.
Welsh lamb and beef are amongst the safest and best in the world and the standard of our organic produce is something to be proud of. This is what people want to be able to buy; this is what parents want their children to eat at school and this is what should be provided in our hospitals. Good, safe and local produce. For things we can’t produce ourselves - such as coffee, tea and chocolate we must ensure that the people who do produce then also get a fair deal. Fair trade is central to everything we believe in.
Because Plaid Cymru has always stood for internationalism, solidarity and respect. This means not bombing defenceless people in Iraq, in not locking people up in Guantanamo Bay and not forcing on developing countries unfair trade rules that only benefit big business and powerful domineering states like the US as I saw happening in Cancun.
Globalisation is about the powerful bullying the weak because they can. I know from the letters that I get that this is just as unacceptable to the people of Wales as the way our workers have been treated by Corus, ASW and Friction Dynamex.
We in Plaid Cymru are standing shoulder to shoulder with Welsh workers and fighting for sustainable communities. We believe in sustainable development - looking at the environment, the economic and the social and cultural life of Wales as a whole - interdependent and interrelated.
And everyone in Wales who works towards these goals contributes to safeguarding and promoting Wales itself. Those who work voluntarily in community enterprises to create local jobs and improve their community, those who work in environmental groups, those who work for equality, those who work on international issues linking Wales with the world, those who work in the peace movement - all of this contributes to building a different kind of Wales reflecting the values of all our people.
The World Social Forum slogan is “Another World is Possible”. We know this is true. We can change things. With Plaid Cymru leading at local, national and international levels, another Wales is possible as well.
