Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:44 pm on 20 February 2019.
Yes, it is important, the UK Government support, because, clearly, the UK Government at the moment is still a member state and will be seen as the main body in one sense. But what they did identify was that—. There are two points to that: is Wales able to have an influence within the UK argument, in the sense of what we've always talked about—a Council of Ministers or replacing the JMC with something more formal? But they did indicate that was a UK issue and they didn't want to get involved in that. But there also is a point that the UK Government needs also to get involved, because they are, at the moment, at member state level and that's who they are in discussions as far as some of these positions, because the structures are from state to state. So, that was the formalisation process. But it is important that, if Welsh Government wants to get involved, Welsh Government must start asking for this.
I also want to highlight one thing, because this is important. We also met with other officials, who clearly stated that, during the years that the Welsh Government has had a presence in Brussels, they have been very effective in what is known as soft diplomacy, and they are now being recognised for that work. What's more, they are being sought out as people who have gone that far, because, for many others—. As a member state, you're automatically included. As Wales, we actually began to act as a third country, in a sense, and we built that soft diplomacy up. And that was a very clear direction in which we needed to go. So, this relationship with the Committee of the Regions is another mechanism to continue that soft diplomacy and, therefore, I would urge the Welsh Government to pursue this and I recommend this report to the Welsh Government.