‘Europe of the regions’ moves a step closer

Date: 06/05/1999

As voters in Scotland and Wales go to the polls to elect their own assemblies for the first time in centuries, Gareth Harding assesses the impact of devolution in the UK on the Union as a whole

BBC broadcasters were told to mind their language in the run-up to this week's elections in the UK heralding a significant transfer of power from London to assemblies in Wales and Scotland.

Forecasters were advised not to refer to "the national weather" and presenters were told not to say "the next national news will be at-"

The people of Wales and Scotland have always seen themselves as belonging to different nations but until the Labour Party won power two years ago after 18 years in opposition, the UK was one of the most centralised countries in Europe, with virtually all major decisions taken by the government in London.

In the run-up to the 1997 general election, UK Premier Tony Blair promised to hold referenda on devolution in both nations if elected as a reward for their decades of loyalty to his party during the wilderness years of the Thatcher era.

Both duly voted 'yes' - although in Wales by a wafer-thin margin - and legislation was rushed through the British parliament to set up a Welsh assembly and Scottish parliament by the end of the century, paving the way for today's (6 May) elections to decide who will sit in the new fora.

For the first time since Wales was swallowed up by England in 1536 and the Act of Union was signed with Scotland almost 300 years ago, major powers will be transferred from London to the regions rather than the other way round.

The move will have a profound effect on the way the UK is governed. The new Scottish parliament will have extensive legislative and tax-raising potential, and is likely to use this to shake up its cash-starved health and education systems and push for a stronger voice abroad. Although the Welsh assembly will have considerably less power, many see its creation as the first step towards greater autonomy for the ancient principality.

But the effects of today's elections will not only be felt in the UK. Brussels and the rest of Europe will also feel the shockwaves.

Like their counterparts in the German and Belgian regions, Scottish and Welsh ministers will in future be able to attend relevant Council of Ministers meetings and diplomats from the two regions will be able to argue their case in Council working groups.

On issues such as fisheries, which are particularly important to the Scottish economy, or minority languages, which is of great concern to the Welsh, ministers from the two can be expected to take the lead in Council meetings.

But this does not mean that the three nations will speak with different voices.

A common British stance will be thrashed out beforehand and in the vast majority of cases, the UK minister will continue to speak on behalf of the two new parliaments.

" We do not believe we can leapfrog London and do everything at the Welsh level," says Wayne David, the Welsh MEP and candidate for the national assembly. But he stresses that the new assembly will provide a distinct voice for Wales in Europe and ensure that Welsh concerns are aired at the highest levels of decision-making.

The presence of the two regions in the corridors of power in Brussels will also be boosted by the constitutional changes afoot.

Scotland is planning to base its EU diplomats and representatives of local authorities, the private sector and the parliament in 'Scotland House' - a "one stop-shop for Scotland in Europe" in Brussels, according to current director Donald MacInnes.

Wales, on the other hand, will seek to raise its profile by expanding the Wales in Europe Centre, its eyes and ears in the self-styled capital of Europe.

Despite the deep differences between the political groups contesting today's elections, "nearly all the parties have talked about strengthening the Welsh voice in Brussels", says outgoing director Jim Hughes.

This is a far cry from the early 1990s, when the secretary of state for Wales refused to allow the national flag to fly from the centre's offices.

It is also a sign of the importance both nations attach to Europe. Support for the EU tends to be higher in Scotland and Wales than in England - not least because the two regions receive proportionally more funding than their English neighbours.

The Highlands and Islands area of Scotland has received EU 'objective one' funding for the past six years and the old industrial heartland of south Wales is now gearing up to receive hundreds of millions of euro from the same honey pot.

The two nations have also traditionally seen Brussels as an ally in their struggle for more autonomy. Unlike the British government in the 1980s and 1990s, the EU has always been keen on developing a 'Europe of the regions'. Through programmes such as 'Interreg', Wales and Scotland have also developed close links with other powerful regions such as Baden-Wurtenburg and Catalonia.

David believes that the Europe of the future will be "a more complex mosaic" than it has been to date. "The regions will play a more important role in Brussels. It is no longer just about relations between the regions and the centre, but between the regions themselves," he says.

The importance of the EU dimension is likely to be reflected in the make-up of the new administrations in Wales and Scotland. Both assemblies will have European standing committees which will scrutinise draft legislation before it is agreed in the Council.

In fact, Scottish Socialist MEP David Martin estimates that half the legislation introduced by the new Scottish parliament will be concerned with transposing EU laws onto the statute book rather than initiating new proposals itself.

In addition, both are likely to have some form of minister for Europe with wide-ranging powers to promote the regions abroad and push for greater trade and investment.

In the final days of campaigning before today's vote, few doubted that Labour would emerge as the biggest party in both Wales and Scotland. But although the nationalists have performed relatively poorly in both countries during the campaign, there is a widespread feeling that having let the devolution genie out of the bottle, it will now be impossible for any future London government to put it back in again.

The Scottish National Party (SNP) has promised the Scots a referendum on independence if it can muster up enough votes in the new parliament. For most Scots, breaking free from the rest of the UK is now more a question of 'when' rather than 'if'.

It is a prospect which sends shivers down the spine of some EU leaders, who believe that the more small nations there are, the greater the chances of conflict on the continent.

Only last week, for example, Acting Regional Affairs Commissioner Monika Wulf-Mathies cited Yugoslavia as an example of what could go wrong when small countries were created and warned that the SNP's separatist approach was "not very European".

However, with ever more power being transferred from national capitals to the EU and the glue of Europe's often artificially created nation states beginning to come unstuck, it seems increasingly likely that, in future, the number of Union member states will not only grow beyond the Union's current borders but also within them.

Major feature. As voters in Scotland and Wales vote for their own assemblies, the writer assesses the impact of devolution in the UK on the Union as a whole.