MEP demands Welsh vote on UK Commissioner

While the bargaining goes on over who will become the new unelected President of the European Council, European governments are also putting forward their nominees for members of the new 27 strong European Commission.

Before being approved by the European Parliament, each one who has been proposed has to appear before the relevant parliamentary committee to be questioned as to their suitability for the job. The name of the new UK Commissioner will be put forward by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

But Plaid MEP Jill Evans has called for members of the National Assembly for Wales to have a say in the appointment. She wrote to Gordon Brown in September to ask him to agree to this but has still not received an answer.

Jill Evans MEP said:

"If the Members of the European Parliament can give their view on the new Commissioners then the National Assembly must have the right to give its view on the UK Commissioner. The Commission is a powerful body which can propose new laws. Those laws include issues which specifically affect Wales. The new Commissioner should have an understanding of that.

"There has been a lot of discussion about the lack of democracy in the past few months. Labour denied us a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, going back on its promise to hold one. So the people of Wales never got the chance to make their views known. Names are being bandied about for the new European President who will be chosen by government leaders with not even the European Parliament having a say in the appointment. 

"This has to change. Politicians at all levels have to be open and accountable to the people they represent. Giving the Assembly the power to agree or not on the proposed European Commissioner would be a small step in the right direction. It would at least acknowledge the reality of devolution in the UK and would give the people of Wales a voice in a very important process".