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| The National Assembly's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee believes the Welsh Government should make their EU strategy clearer. (Pic : Wales Online) |
As it's a European election year – I'll start covering that next month – it's a subject worth looking at. You might also be interested in What Wales gets from the European Union.
The Committee made 13 recommendations, summarised as :
- The Welsh Government review their "soft diplomacy" to achieve its strategic goals and objectives within the EU.
- The Welsh Government maintains and expands its presence in Brussels to include representatives from business and "Third Sector", and engages more with the four Welsh MEPs.
- The Welsh Government should address how Whitehall and Welsh departments work together on EU policy, and should make their observations on EU policy known to the UK Government.
- AMs who are members of the Committee of the Regions should periodically lay a statement on their work in front of the Assembly. The Welsh Government should also investigate, with Whitehall, how to speed up the appointment of Welsh members to EU committees.
- The Welsh Government should review its EU strategy, with an annual statement and Assembly debate held on it.
How Wales fits into the European Union
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| Ultimately, Wales is represented at EU Commission level by UK Ministers, resulting in what Carwyn Jones calls "The Bridgend Question". (Pic : The Telegraph) |
I'll go into the mechanics of how the EU works in more detail another time, so I'll skip that and cut straight to where Wales fits in.
The Welsh Government has regular engagement with the European Commission (the EU's "government"), and several areas of devolved policy are directly impacted by decisions in Brussels – agriculture, fisheries, structural funds etc.
Wales isn't an EU member state, so we don't have an EU Commissioner and no Welsh member sits on the EU Council. We also have fewer MEPs as a UK "region" than we would if we were a full member state. So most of this work is led by the UK Government on our behalf, up to and including the Prime Minister.
However, in devolved areas – agriculture picked out for special focus – Welsh Government ministers do have a say and are part of UK delegations to Brussels on such matters. So the Committee say Wales has an "indirect voice" through UK representatives.
Knowing the UK Government's stance on EU policy is therefore absolutely crucial in order for the Welsh Government to influence it. There's a Concordiat on Co-ordination on European Policy which allows Welsh ministers to do this in devolved areas.
Welsh influence in Brussels
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| Wales House has established a "good reputation" in Brussels, but the Committee believe the Welsh Government needs to make better use of "soft diplomacy". (Pic : Click on Wales) |
The Committee heard four key ways to influence the EU – good communication, a good presence in Brussels, good timing and strong personal contacts. In addition to this, there needs to be good co-operation between the EU institutions, Welsh Government and UK Government.
The Welsh Government's presence in Brussels is based at Wales House, which includes offices for the National Assembly, WLGA and Welsh Higher Education. The Committee say they were "left with a positive impression" when meeting people involved in this, while Wales House has "established a good reputation in Brussels". However, they say there needed to be a bigger business presence and a presence for the Third (aka. Voluntary) Sector – which stood out as "obvious gaps".
Like most things in politics, to get a good reputation you need to build up your contacts. The Committee also heard getting your input on policy issues in quickly is just as important. David Hughes, from the EU's Cardiff Office, said the Welsh Government and National Assembly "were good and effective at getting access to key figures", however they could work at getting their input in early.
The Committee believe it's "crucial to identify key priorities and focus on them", with a clear strategy from the Welsh Government on which priorities in particular, how to deliver them, who to target and how to make best use of current resources in Wales, London and Brussels.
They suggest this be done through "soft diplomacy" – what the rest of us would call schmoozing. Some suggestions include holding more events to promote Wales, organising trade delegations and bringing together all Welsh EU organisations and AMs to discuss EU priorities for Wales.
EU Policy, Wales and the UK Government
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| This isn't the first time Wales has been left of an EU map, and it looks like that it won't be the last unless action is taken. (Pic : ITV Wales) |
The first issue here was dubbed "The Bridgend Question", put forward by Carwyn Jones. Basically it's a reverse of the West Lothian Question whereby the devolved government have the responsibilities but the sole voice and decision-making power in Brussels rests with the (nominally English) UK minister.
Natural Resources and Food Minister, Alun Davies (Lab, Blaenau Gwent), said he - as Welsh minister with the responsiblity for agriculture - can contribute to the "speaking note" UK representatives use in meetings but couldn't speak himself, with "too much power and goodwill" resting on the "personal wishes of UK Ministers". He believed devolved administration ministers should also have "an absolute right of attendance".
The Scottish Minister for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop (SNP, Linlithgow), expressed grievances along similar lines. Of course, if Scotland votes for independence and joins the EU, they'll no longer have this problem. Same for Wales.
The Committee didn't say this was "a major issue in practice", though the First Minister believed a replacement for the current arrangements was appropriate, with the Committee adding there needed to be improved interaction between Whitehall departments and the Welsh Government. This was recently raised in Silk II.As highlighted earlier, many of those who gave evidence believed there needs to be a "strong coherent strategy". The Scottish Government have done this, targeting four key areas which subsequently "provided leadership and focus".
A specific area pointed out for criticism in Wales is the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) programme. It ultimately led to Wales being "left off the map", and the Enterprise and Business Committee are looking at as part of a separate inquiry. Their inquiry has uncovered what are described as "problems with negotiations" between EU Commission, UK Government and Welsh Government.
Horizon 2020 (the EU's research and development programme) was also picked out as it needs "direct engagement from industry and universities", but as a programme was not transparent or easy to work with. Prof. Hywel Ceri Jones said the period to 2020 was the "last chance saloon with European money" and the major challenge was getting private companies on board.
The Welsh Government could do more there by identifying priorities and setting out an EU strategy that would be openly debated in the Senedd.
Wales and EU institutions
The Committee say since the Lisbon Treaty the role of the European Parliament has "strengthened and increased in prominence" in areas relevant to devolved Wales like agriculture and structural funds. They add that the "power of the European Parliament should not be underestimated", suggesting that bodies and organisations "adapt their approach to this increasingly influential institution."
Alun Davies said he seeks to engage not only with Welsh MEPs, but MEPs from the rest of the UK. It was also clear that lobbying MEPs from across the whole of the EU with similar interests was increasingly vital. Welsh MEPs are said to "work together as a team" on issues important to Wales in consultation with the First Minister. The Scottish Government take a similar approach too.
MEPs say that the Welsh Government could do more to keep them informed, and the Welsh Government should do more to make their thoughts on EU policy matters known.
The Committee of the Regions (CoR) is where regional and stateless legislatures have a voice on EU matters. Two AMs are members - Mick Antoniw AM (Lab, Pontypridd) and Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM (Plaid, Carms E & Dinefwr) - along with two Welsh councillors. Rhodri serves as a rapporteur ("clerk") for the CoR, saying there needs to be a clearer role for the body and strengthened relationship with the EU Parliament.
The report says written statements should be laid in front of the Assembly outlining the work of the CoR, and that the process of appointing Welsh members to the CoR needed to be sped up.
On the edge of the action?
It's plainly obvious I support Wales becoming a full EU member state, but it's clear the Welsh Government are relatively satisfied with the current state of affairs.
The onus on improving Welsh influence in Brussels, it seems, comes down to communication between the respective governments on this side of the English Channel and the EU Commission. And yes, more hors d'oeurvres for EU big wigs visiting Wales House and more reports for AMs to read.
I'm surprised, shocked even, that there's no significant Welsh business presence in Brussels. That will need to be fixed pronto, but perhaps it's best to wait until after any possible Development Bank of Wales comes to be so we have a "brand" to sell there.
There are many pan-EU initiatives that Wales has been too disengaged from and could do more for our economy than Objective One – Horizon 2020 and TEN-T being highlighted in the report. So a proper EU strategy from the Welsh Government is essential. If we were going to pick four strategic priorities like the Scots, mine would be : exports, transport links, turning SMEs into big companies and renewable energy.
So, not the most entertaining subject but certainly some significant findings.
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