Can I welcome the report from our representatives in the Committee of the Regions and the introduction by Mick Antoniw in relation to the importance of the Committee of the Regions and what we need to do about it? I want to refer back to the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee's report of last February or March, 'Wales’ future relationship with Europe—Part one: a view from Wales'. By the way, that was a hint—part 2 is coming out on Thursday. Recommendation 16 we had was: 

'We recommend that the Welsh Government sets out in its response to this report, what discussions it has had on Wales’ future relationship with the Committee of the Regions after Brexit and how those discussions are progressing.'

And this is the response we had from the Welsh Government—I hope the Minister might be able to expand on some of the comments in here:

'The Welsh Government supports the principle of a continued relationship between the UK and the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and the detailed discussions already underway as to the shape of the relationship.'

So, perhaps we can have some confirmation as to how far they've now gone.

'In the transition period, we have expressed our support to the establishment of a joint Committee of the Regions-UK Commission which would if adopted by the CoR include twelve members from the CoR and twelve from the UK.'

But, again, we need to know if that is still the position of Welsh Government, and if so, what pressures are they putting on the UK representation to ensure that there's Welsh representation on that delegation. 

The Welsh Government also states:

'We also agree with the proposal of a permanent political forum for North-West Europe after transition which should include representatives from each of the Devolved Administrations.'

So, again, this is last May. What progress has been made on these three points in the response to our part 1 report?

It's important we now also—. I support Darren Millar's comment about separation from Assembly and Welsh Government. I note that my other remaining comments will be on Welsh Government, but it is important that the Assembly has its own position in European institutions. And I appreciate very much, Llywydd, the response you gave to the committee, which highlighted some of those things. Perhaps we need to see how much more work we can do and who else we can explore to work with as an Assembly, particularly legislatures across Europe in particular regions. I know you've had discussions with the Basques and the Catalonians, for example. We may want to—. And that will be very helpful for us as well, because there are two separate groups here: there's an Assembly relationship and there's a Welsh Government relationship, and it is important. We must remember that the two representatives may be appointed by the First Minister, but they are representing the Assembly at that Committee of the Regions, not the Welsh Government. Why? Because, again, if you read the papers from the Committee of the Regions, and we were given some, when we met with the president of the Committee of the Regions yesterday, relating to Brexit, and their voice is very clear in that they want the discussions between the UK Government and the EU to come also to a position where we can have an agreement on a joint committee between the Committee of the Regions and the UK. Now, my concern, then, is that what we were told was most of these—[Inaudible.]—with third countries happen on a once-a-year basis. So, that's a loss of access in one sense, but it's the informal connections we'll get as a consequence of that, and perhaps you will look at how we can get sub-committees as a consequence to work on it. So, that is important—very much indeed. 

What we were told yesterday, and this is quite clear—the president told us, without reservation: it's up to the Welsh Government to lead on the ask. They weren't going to lead; they wanted the Welsh Government to take the lead. So, in a sense, if we really want to get involved, the Welsh Government has to step up to the plate and put forward its proposals.