Wales disadvantaged yet again!

Today the official proclamation of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights took place in Strasbourg, and the UK Government insisted on opting out of the provisions of the Charter.

The opt out puts Wales at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the European Union and proves the need for Wales to have its own voice in Europe. The UK is opting out from the Charter whilst the Polish government has indicated that it intends to drop its opt out, leaving the UK as the only member state not to sign up.

Nothing highlights our disadvantage in Europe more than watching everyone except Britain and possibly Poland sign up to the Charter of Fundamental Rights. We have called for many years for a written charter of rights. Now the EU has it but we in Wales don’t. Our human and social rights are less protected.

This charter is an instrument for political action on social rights, the environment, workers rights, equality of men and women, rights for children and the elderly. Members of parliament stood and cheered as the charter was signed. Those of us who are denied the protection of the charter could only stand on the sidelines.

The lesson for today is that Wales can not afford to be on the sidelines and needs to have its own voice in Europe.

The European Charter of Fundamental Rights was signed at a special proclamation ceremony in Strasbourg by Hans-Gert Pöttering, European Parliament President, José Manuel Barroso, Commission President, and José Sócrates, Portuguese Prime Minister and President-in-office of the EU Council.

The event was designed to publicise the Charter and give a legal basis article which refers to the Charter in the EU Reform Treaty (the Lisbon Treaty). The United Kingdom has an opt out from this part of Treaty and the UK Prime Minister will not be present in Lisbon for the joint signing ceremony which takes place tomorrow.

From Pontypridd to Brussels

I attended the Welsh-themed British Beer Club Christmas Reception in Brussels on Monday. A total of forty five brewers from Wales were invited to take part, one of which was the Otley Brewery from Pontypridd.

Events like this are important in promoting Welsh produce overseas and I’m always keen to lend my support. My congratulations to the British Beer Club for their work, and to those Welsh brewers who took part.

It was great to see a number of local brewers from Wales taking part, and both Nick and Matthew Otley from the Otley brewery in Pontypridd were there to promote their selection of real ales.

I hope this will help open new markets for their fine Welsh produce, perhaps not in time for this Christmas, but certainly in time for the next!

International AIDS Day

Today is International AIDS Day. I will be wearing my red ribbon to help raise awareness of this terrible disease. In the year 2000 all the EU countries signed up to the Millenium Development Goals. Fighting HIV/AIDS is a real test of their commitment.

5 million children have been orphaned by AIDS. Many pregnant women are denied the drugs to prevent them passing on the virus to their unborn children.

A few years ago I did a report in the Parliament on this issue and worked closely with Medicines Sans Frontiers. I learned a lot about their fantastic work but also about the scale of the problem. Then in 2002 I visited Kwazulu Natal in South Africa. There I saw it at first hand. We had a meeting with the King of the Zulus who had made fighting AIDS his top priority because they were burying a child in the village every week and he just couldn’t stand it any more. But I also went to watch a group of young people performing a play for schools which was really inspiring. It carried a very strong message about the importance of using condoms.

Wearing a ribbon isn’t much but it is important. If nothing else it reminds people who make promises that we expect them to keep them.