Press Release: UK proposes wider European Union role for regions

The UK Joint Ministerial Committee on European Affairs, which is chaired by the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, and comprises Ministers from each Whitehall Department, as well as each of the Devolved Administrations, agreed a UK position paper, on 30 January 2003, for the Convention on the regions in Europe. Peter Hain, the UK Government's representative on the European Convention and Secretary of State for Wales, said afterwards that the European Union should adapt to allow regions and localities to play a fuller part.