Remember this map of Europe? It was on the cover of the 2004 European Commission's Statistical Guide to Europe. Notice anything strange about it? Wales is not there! There's just a blank space.

I've seen my job as Wales's member of the European Parliament for the past ten years as putting Wales firmly on the map: politically, economically, socially. Before we arrived that did not happen. In Plaid Cymru we are not in the business of adapting Wales to fit in to British priorities or the Europe of the so-called “nation states”, but shaping our own future, and at the same time, influencing the way that Britain and Europe develop in a positive way. Wales is a European nation in the making. And we are making it - all of us together.

Since 1999 things have changed. Wales’s profile has risen hugely. The Welsh language now has an official status in the European Union - and no-one was prouder than me when Alun Ffred Jones spoke in Welsh for the first time ever in the Council of Ministers and Nerys Evans spoke in Welsh in the Committee of the Regions. My hard fought campaign - opposed by both Labour and Conservative MEPs - won the support of many, many people and organisations throughout Wales and that's why we succeeded. It was an effective partnership of Plaid Cymru, on the side of the people, working with the people with local councils, the Assembly, Westminster and the European Parliament.

We have been working together in the same way to oppose electronic tagging of sheep - Plaid Cymru on the side of the farmers - with the lead of Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones, taking the case directly to the EU. The same on changes to the rules on fallen stock, where Bangor University has pioneered a scheme that could benefit not only farmers in Wales but in the whole of Europe.

Plaid Cymru in Europe has again been on the side of the workers. Why haven't European laws protecting people from working dangerously long hours applied in Britain like they did in other parts of Europe? Because the Labour government refused to sign up to them. We have always called for an end to this "opt out" and this week we are still hoping for an agreement which will protect workers and allow flexibility for the emergency services and others to carry on the excellent work they do. Britain is still opposing it – even though the Wales TUC has shown that the numbers of people in Wales working unpaid extra hours soared to 204,000 last year.

In contrast, Ieuan Wyn Jones has honoured Plaid's commitment to support small businesses in Wales by bringing in new support and funding with the backing of the European Investment Bank.

Plaid Cymru is on the side of consumers - supporting better food labelling, stronger laws on waste, more protection from dangerous chemicals, improved rights for patients who travel to other countries for health care and more locally produced food.

We have worked tirelessly to get European money for Wales - even as Tony Blair and his then chancellor Gordon Brown were trying to abolish European Regional funding altogether and control all the money at the Treasury in London. He lost that battle. But even now we don't get the matched funding from London that we are entitled to.

Plaid Cymru is on the side of parents - calling for more childcare to meet the European targets agreed by European leaders in 2002. Care should be provided for a third of children under 3 and 90% of children between 3 and school age by 2010. The UK has failed to reach either target. In contrast, the One Wales government is investing £120 million for extra affordable childcare.

Plaid Cymru is on your side in financial crisis. We are all suffering the affects, but the hard fact is that it affects women most. For every job lost on Wall Street, three jobs disappear in the service sector, where many women work. When Woolworth closed in November last year, 27,000 jobs were lost - mainly women. The risk of poverty is highest among single parent households, 85% of which are headed by women. Women over 65 are also at high risk of poverty. Because of the pay gap women earn less than men anyway. And according to the International Labour Organisation, the economic crisis is expected to increase the number of unemployed women by 22 million in 2009. It's not surprising that women in Wales are more worried than men about how the crisis will affect them and their families.

Yet almost all the decision makers, including those who caused this crisis are men. We’ve seen the G20 photocalls this week! Would the credit crunch have happened at all if Lehman Brothers had been Lehman sisters? I'll leave that for you to think about!

Last week Gordon Brown came to the European Parliament in Strasbourg - at his own request - to tell us how he would lead Europe out of the financial crisis. But in Wales we are facing not one but two crises - one Gordon Brown helped create, and the other Gordon Brown is planning all by himself! He is planning to cut £500 million from the Welsh budget next year - a £500 million cut in public services - schools, hospitals and public transport.

It's all very well to go to invite himself to the European Parliament. When will Gordon Brown come to the National Assembly? When will he explain to the people of Wales, face to face, why he is cutting our public spending at the very time we need it most? I challenge him to do that.

These Labour cuts mean Welsh jobs as well as services. Across Europe 35% of all jobs are in public services. So cutting those services will have a bad knock-on effect on the whole of the economy. I will continue to work in the European Parliament for laws to ensure that public services meet the needs of the people and protect them from destructive market forces. The needs of people are always more important than the needs of the market, which is why Plaid has always supported a social Europe, not just an economic union.

It's not cuts we need but more investment. With £3 billion we could safeguard and create 40,000 jobs in Wales between now and 2011.

There is no better way to create new business opportunities than a huge programme of investment to fight climate change, create sustainable jobs and sustainable economic growth. One of the powers the European Parliament does have is over the budget. MEPs have to agree, for example, on how the 4 billion euro energy part of the EU economic recovery plan is spent. I believe that half of that money must be spent on renovating buildings, public transport and renewable energy - the so-called "smart cities" projects. We don't want all this money to go to the giant companies with huge projects - which in turn make them huge profits. Massive projects like carbon capture and storage are years away from being ready so the investment won’t have an impact on the economy now. And they do not benefit local communities. And they are not as effective as energy conservation and efficiency and the community based micro-generation schemes that Wales has so much potential to develop. I will keep pushing for this money to go to smaller projects because I know of so many community groups, entrepreneurs and local authorities in Wales who are crying out for funding for their green schemes. We could be leading the way.

Wales is a small country, and that has clear advantages in these difficult times. Our disadvantage is that we can't speak for ourselves alongside the other governments of Europe. Why not? Because it is the UK government represented there.

And it's Gordon Brown that will appoint a Commissioner to serve for five years representing the UK. Only the Commission has the right to propose new laws in the EU, although, contrary to popular myth, they can’t make the final decision on those laws. But they still have a powerful position. So why should the decision on who represents us in the Commission be left to Gordon Brown? We need to get the voice of Wales heard in the Commission.

Under the devolved UK, let's divide the job up between Wales, Scotland, England and the north of Ireland. Each could appoint a Commissioner for a period of fifteen months. This would ensure that at least for a limited time we had a Welsh Commissioner. Dafydd – forget the House of Lords - imagine what a difference a Commissioner Wigley would make!

There are lots of changes we will keep pushing for. We want to stop the expensive to-ing and fro-ing between Brussels and Strasbourg that costs all of us taxpayers millions of pounds. That’s not the MEPs fault, it’s the governments. Plaid have campaigned for a fair and open system of members travel allowances which will come into force in June. And we want to see all those companies who come and lobby us as Member of the European Parliament to be registered so we know who and what they are and what they represent. My first duty is to you, the people of Wales, not to big business.

Labour complains about me shouting for Wales in Europe. But I’m in there for Wales. You didn't elect me so I would keep quiet, did you? So I'll tell them and everyone else that I will keep on shouting on behalf of the people of Wales. I'll keep on and on and on - as long as it takes to give Wales its own voice in Brussels and Strasbourg.

You will hear the other parties talking about a voice for Wales in Europe, but Plaid is the only party that gives Wales a voice to speak for herself.

That's why I'm asking the people of Wales to vote for us again this June. So I can carry on the work in Europe. But not on my own. We need more Plaid MEPs there - we need members like Eurig Wyn, Ioan Bellin and Natasha Asghar who can fight Wales's corner with a passion, loyalty and honesty.

We will never see another map like this. Wales won't be left out again – I’ll make sure of that. But we have a bigger vision for Wales. We are building this European nation of ours. We are doing it together. Plaid Cymru is the only party that can do it because we ARE the party of Wales. We are not answerable to London. We answer only to you, the people of Wales. We belong to you. We want what you want - and – always - we are on your side.

Jill Evans ASE/MEP