This article was published at IC Wales:
By the way, the capital of the Basque Autonomous Community is Gazteiz, not Bilbao.
Basques may have lessons for Wales
Apr 18 2008 by David James, Western Mail
THE Welsh Affairs Select Committee is to travel to the Spanish cities of Barcelona and Bilbao to learn about globalisation.
According to the committee’s chairman, Aberavon MP Hywel Francis, the proudly autonomous nations of northern Spain, Catalonia and the Basque country, of which the two cities are the capitals, have adapted far better to the modern world than Wales.
Dr Francis said: “We wanted to see another part of the world that is similar to Wales that is responding very well to globalisation.
“Catalonia and the Basque Country have striking similarities to Wales. So we want to see why they are so successful.”
The worker-owned co-operative of Mondragon, which was founded in the 1940s and inspired a series of similar co-operatives in Wales, is on the select committee’s itinerary.
“We are particularly interested in the Basque country,” Dr Francis said.
“We learned 25 years ago about developing co-operatives from Mondragon and we are going out there to see how they are developing and using the co-operatives to support and in order to serve the tide of globalisation.”
Also on the agenda for the trip from Sunday until Thursday are visits to Barcelona University, a project to turn industrial land into an innovative economic district and the Catalunya broadcasting corporation.
The MPs will also visit Vilaweb, a Catalan news website, El Periodico de Catalunya, a daily Barcelona newspaper, Basque TV and Radio Broadcasting Board and the Basque Country Audiovisual Cluster.
Caernarfon MP Hywel Williams, a committee member, said Wales could learn from the independent media of the Basque Country and Catalonia where he said many more people read a daily newspaper in their own language.
He said: “We will certainly be looking at the way the media are dealing with influences from outside.
“Eighty per cent of people in Wales read newspapers from England. Speaking for myself, I am worried that the reality of life in Wales is not being reflected for most Welsh people because they are not reading newspapers which do that job.”
Around half of the MPs on the committee are going.
Dr Williams said the travelling party would be contributing to an inquiry the committee had been carrying out into globalisation and its impact on Wales.
By the way, the capital of the Basque Autonomous Community is Gazteiz, not Bilbao.
.... ... .
Aberavon MP Hywel Francis, the proudly autonomous nations of northern Spain, Catalonia and the Basque country, of which the two cities are the capitals, have adapted far better to the modern world than Wales.
ReplyDeleteI don't know much abou Hyel Francis, appart from that he's a Labour MP, and they (in general - I may be unfair to him) have been the most objectional to Wales having further devolved powers - which even then would b no where near to what Basques and Catalans enjoy. Another 'trip for the boys' i suspect!