Why won't Labour make Welsh an official language?
Monday, April 16, 2007

The Conservatives, Plaid and the Lib Dems all agree: Welsh should be an official language. It's there in black and white in each manifesto.

As it stands, Welsh is already a 'Language of Government' in Wales, but it does not have official language status (even though Jane Davidson seems to think that it does).

This matters because Welsh, at present, doesn't really exist. Despite being spoken by a now sizable proportion of the nation, Welsh lags way behind other minority languages in Europe. Irish is an official European language, while Basque, Catalan and Galician are 'approved' European languages. This means that EU correspondence and speeches can be translated into these languages if notice is given.

Meanwhile, Welsh has no such recognition. It is possible for MEPs to make speeches in Welsh in the European parliament, but they won't be translated so what's the point? It may amuse the Italians to see the remnants of Glenys Kinnock's lunch spat out in a mouthful of complex consonants, but it will achieve very little.

The opposition parties argue that earning official language status would go some way to putting Welsh on a par with other minority languages in Europe. Labour's manifesto appears to disagree.

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posted by Blamerbell @ 8:27 am, ,


Blamerbell's Brussels burp
Monday, April 02, 2007

For those keen to know what the better half of the Welsh blogosphere got up to in Brussels this week, I implore you to check out the blolumn of Matt 'but we have not got five minutes' Withers. Much like the closet class swot, Matt was obviously taking some pretty hefty notes and he's quoted almost all the good bits from our very brief meeting with two of Wales' four MEPs, while ignoring all the boring crap about energy.

I have to confess, though, for most of that session I was struggling with quite possibly the bubbliest sparkling water I've ever come across. It was like supping straight out of a geyser. Ooh err. I nabbed another bottle for later hangover pacifying purposes, but the bobbling around in my bag only agitated the fizzy little buggers further and it exploded all over my crotch in the middle of the EU press conference.

Anyway, as I've mentioned before, one of our destinations on this fact-finding/indoctrination exercise was Wales House, home to the assembly's bureaucrats in Brussels. That's all very well, despite the fact that Wales is merely a region in the eyes of the European Union. But alarm bells ring when Wales' own MEPs confess they have no contact with the Welsh assembly government. Somewhat bizarrely, it becomes clear that they are briefed only by the UK government.

Two questions arise: (1) what's the point of housing WAG diplomats in Brussels when our MEPs are directed by Westminster and (2) why isn't the assembly government making sure that Welsh MEPs are representing its own unique agenda?

Oh and (3) could someone send me some of that bubbly water. I want to try snorting it.

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posted by Blamerbell @ 12:08 am, ,