The Welsh language was heard for the first time in an official capacity at an institutional meeting last Thursday (20th November 2008), when the Welsh Heritage Minister spoke at the EU Council of Culture Ministers in Brussels.

Minister Alun Ffred Jones spoke at the Brussels meeting as the head of the UK delegation at the EU Council of Culture Ministers, which was the first time the right to conduct government business in an official meeting at a European level through the medium of the Welsh language Welsh, was exercised. The first agreement to be reached with the Council of Ministers for the Welsh language to be officially used was in July 2008, after long term negotiations between the UK Government, EU institutions and the Welsh Assembly Government. The deal struck will now enable the Welsh language to be used officially in many areas of the EU, although it stops short of giving the language full official EU status.

However, people who correspond with the EU institutions in the Welsh language will now be able to receive a response in Welsh as part of the agreement. Also next week a further agreement will be signed with another EU institution, the Committee of the Regions, to allow Welsh to be used in an official capacity there.

The same status that is being granted to the Welsh language is currently being enjoyed by the Catalan, Basque and Galician languages, which were the first 'nation without state' languages to be given semi official status in 2006. The same provision awarded to Welsh is still being negotiated for the Scottish Gaelic language, which is expected to be agreed to soon.

Plaid MEP Jill Evans commented that even though the European Parliament still refuses to have interpretation services for the Welsh language (as in the case of Irish Gaelic), she "never believed that we would ever get this far."

(Article prepared for Celtic News by Rhisiart Tal-e-bot)

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League 24/11/08