Addressing the Spring Forum at the Welsh Conference, Kay Swinburne MEP, Welsh Conservative Member of the European Parliament and ECR Group Coordinator for Economic and Monetary Affairs, said:
Good morning Conference – Bore Da Gynhadledd
Fel ASE Ceidwadol dros Gymru, mae’n fraint eich croesawu chi i gyd o ledled y Deyrnas Unedig i brifddinas Cymru.
As the Conservative MEP for Wales I am delighted to welcome you all from across the UK to our Welsh capital.
Dyw hi ddim yn teimlo’n hir iawn ers i fi fod yn sefyll ar y llwyfan hwn yn annerch y gynhadledd yn dilyn ein llwyddiant yn yr etholiadau Ewropeaidd, etholiad lle daeth y Ceidwadwyr Cymreig yn gyntaf yng Nghymru am y tro cyntaf o fewn cof.
It does not seem very long ago that I stood on this stage addressing conference following our success in the European Elections, an election where the Welsh Conservatives topped the polls in Wales for the first time in living memory.
The months following my election have flown by and the learning curve has been particularly steep as our political Party and Group in Europe have tasked me with leading the legislative work on economic issues.
At a critical time in the direct aftermath of the worst financial crisis this is a huge challenge and one which I hope my background in finance is helping me to meet.
Love it or loathe it, the EU is currently extremely busy on future legislation which will affect us here in Wales and the UK. However, the only way to ensure that the Directives and Regulations are delivered to the relevant Government for implementation in a suitable form is to engage in the process throughout. This is what we within the ECR are striving to do, and despite the media silence on many of these critically important matters it is what we are succeeding in doing across the different policy areas. Whether it is on financial derivatives, fish discards or on cross-border healthcare directives, or negotiating the size of the EU budget itself – the UK Conservative MEPs are seeking to deliver for you, our constituents.
However, it is our economy, here in the UK that I wish to talk about at conference today, hopefully demonstrating the folly of the Welsh First Minister who last week described the 2% drop in Welsh GDP announced by the EU’s statistical office as a legacy of the 1980s.
I fail to see how this period in our country’s history has anything to do with GDP figures 3 decades later.
For comparison, a similar population in previously Communist Slovenia managed, between 1998 and 2008 to improve their GDP from just under 70% of the EU average to greater than 90% of the EU average. Whilst during the same period Wales has remained below 75% of the average. This, despite Wales being in receipt of some 3 billion pounds of additional EU money in the last 10 years. This simply cannot be right.
Wales, more than most regions of the UK has a huge vested interest in the EU budget. The current budget has 2 items which account for some 40% and 46% of the overall EU budget, namely, CAP, the common agricultural policy and the convergence and competitiveness funds.
Wales is in receipt of large amounts of EU convergence funds, as, to our shame, we have qualified for a second round of top level funding, as well as a smaller amount of competitiveness funding and of course our rural communities are very much reliant on an effective CAP which recognises the unique aspects of farming in Wales.
Whilst within various parts of the EU, China and India to name but a few, there is a lot of enthusiasm and energy going into forward looking projects and funding strategies – the buzz words being research and development, innovation and competition in a global market – it seems that in Wales the focus is backward looking, particularly when it comes to the need and use of EU funds.
All the Welsh Assembly Government can do is focus on those funds it receives for being one of the worst performing regions of the EU – Carwyn Jones welcomed economic statistics that showed how badly Wales was doing as it gave them more scope to argue for more EU money.
A recent question posed by the Western Mail – “Would qualifying for more EU funds be a national disgrace?” is simply answered by Yes!
Wales has been let down by an Assembly Government who have failed to use the funds effectively, failed to raise our economy to that of the average of an enlarged EU, and failed the people of Wales. They should be ashamed.
In an age of ballooning public deficits, where the previous government maxed out the national credit card, WAG cannot expect to continue spreading a tale of industrial degeneration and urban poverty from the 80s and expect handouts that can then be squandered on non wealth creating projects – beneficial social projects perhaps, but certainly not regenerating our Welsh economy.
The Financial Crisis committee in the Parliament has been looking at the measures required within the EU to stimulate future growth. These have featured access to venture capital, flexible use of cohesion funding for infrastructure, leveraging the EIB´s expertise in financing large projects and taking measures to help different region´s competitiveness.
Wales currently has all of these remedies at hand. We have through Finance Wales got access to venture capital funds for our business community – though try finding Welsh companies who are recipients of their investment funds. Our Welsh businesses constantly complain about being excluded from the Convergence funding pot and more dishearteningly the WAG has failed to utilise the EIB activities to fund infrastructure projects within Wales.
Given the precarious state of the Welsh economy, I sincerely hope that when the EU budget is renegotiated over the coming years that those projects which are valuable do not end up without funding – however there are many other, positively focussed parts of the EU’s strategy for growth that are not hand outs, but specifically aimed at new industries, research and innovation – yet the WAG has proven itself woefully inadequate in assisting our innovative companies in securing these funds.
The 7th Framework for Research and Technological Development is one of these programmes. You may wonder about the 6 earlier programmes – In the 6th Framework Wales managed to get just 2.6% of all of the money allocated in the UK some 26 million euros out of the 1.35 billion euros the UK received as a whole.
Framework 7 is aimed at places like Wales. Large companies can access up to 50% of the money used for a research project from the EU this number rises to 75% for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. Given that 98% of the businesses in Wales are classed as SMEs this could be a huge bonus, allowing them to invest in new technology and develop new products as well as fostering partnerships across the EU allowing expansion into new markets.
Wales’s two hundred thousand Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises contribute over 40 billion pounds in turnover to the Welsh economy, and employing over 600 thousand people throughout Wales.
Yet where is the help for them?
The one thing that unites MEPs across all of the European Political parties is helping SMEs – it is a piece of EU jargon that is actually working its way from sound bite to action in the form of the small business act.
Whereas the EU is focussed on cutting red tape and supporting SMEs, the WAG is clearly lagging.
Under a recent review of public procurement rules, the Commission proposed reforms so that smaller businesses can access more contracts. The WAG needs to immediately reform its procurement procedures in order to ensure access to it’s £4.6bn procurement budget for Welsh SMEs and help foster economic vitality directly in these difficult economic times.
The Conservatives in the European Parliament have made it their priority to stop damaging legislation and promote positive measures to help the SMEs that are the backbone of the Welsh economy. They provide jobs and training to generations of Welsh families – they need our support.
I can only hope that companies, large and small in Wales will continue to engage with the EU and work to ensure that EU funds are used responsibly to innovate and develop new ways to allow Wales to compete at the forefront of the EU´s attempts to stimulate growth.
Wales has a wealth of talented businessmen and women whose ideas need to be harnessed and encouraged without burdening them with regulation. SMEs hold the key to economic regeneration in Wales, the UK and the EU as a whole and I will continue to work with my Conservative colleagues to ensure that the Commission fully understands what they require.
Wales can have a strong future and I truly believe only the Welsh Conservatives can deliver these ambitions!
