Historic Moment for Welsh Language in Brussels
On Wednesday 26 November, Nerys Evans, Assembly Member for Mid and West Wales, made history by becoming the first person to use Welsh in an official capacity at the Committee of the Regions in Brussels.
The Committee is the European political assembly for local and regional authorities in Brussels, and Nerys Evans AM was speaking during the Plenary Session at the invitation of the President of the Committee, Luc Van den Brande.
Welsh joins Basque, Catalan and Galician in having a special status in Brussels, which allows political representatives from these countries to use their native language during official meetings at the Committee of the Regions and the Council of Ministers.
This agreement comes less than a week after Welsh Assembly Government Minister for Culture, Alun Ffred Jones, used Welsh for the first time at the meeting of EU Culture Ministers in Brussels, where he was representing the UK Government.
Wales has four representatives on the Committee of the Regions, two from the National Assembly for Wales (Christine Chapman and Nerys Evans) and two from the Welsh Local Government Association (Robert Bright, and soon to be confirmed, Chris Holley, lead of Swansea City Council).
Nerys Evans AM said: “Today we witness a milestone for the Welsh language as she takes her place on the European stage.The increasing importance of multilingualism and the parity given to all languages highlights the growing influence of smaller democracies across Europe."
Luc Van den Brande, President of the Committee of the Regions said: “At our Plenary Session on 26 and 27 November we'll have the first ever intervention in Welsh at the Committee of the Regions thanks to an agreement between the Committee and the UK government.
“I am particularly pleased as the Committee of the Regions stongly believes in the principle of multilinguism and the importance of regional languages, also within the EU Institutions. I very much hope that our Welsh Committee members will make active use of this new possibility.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
More information on the Committee of the Regions can be found here: European Union - Committee of the Regions
