Wales for Europe warmly welcomes the positive outcome of the UK-EU summit. From the Welsh point of view, we know from our conversations with Welsh businesses that any movement towards the free trade we previously enjoyed with our nearest neighbours would be more than welcome - in fact it is desperately needed.
As a small country Wales must trade internationally to achieve economic prosperity, and growth does not arise from abstract ideas like “sovereignty”. Growth comes from the business sector as this is where wealth is created. The hysterical reactions from some quarters, shouting slogans about "surrender" and "betrayal" are in effect anti-business.
The benefits from this week's agreements on matters such as food and drink trade, defence contracts, fisheries, electricity markets, and the general reduction of red tape at our ports and airports, will all go towards restoring at least some of the huge amount of lost income caused by Brexit. The overall balance sheet from the summit is positive, given that while the costs of Brexit are immense, the total cash value of the mythical so-called "Brexit benefits" is less than or equal to zero.
Additionally, items such as pet passports, access to e-passport gates for British tourists, and a mobility scheme allowing young people to work or study in countries across the EU, all add as much to social and cultural understanding as they do to pure commercial matters. The fact that the EU is a peace project is as important in these dangerous days as always.
Let us in Wales congratulate the UK government on positive first steps. Hopefully, next year's Senedd elections will be influenced by serious discussion about what is best for Welsh business, economics and society, rather than lazy sloganeering and narrow prejudice. Wales can embrace prosperity or reject it. Closer cooperation is good for prosperity, and in due course full participation in the single European market and customs union will be even better.
Rejoining the EU will be the logical conclusion of the realities the UK government has begun to tackle this week. This could be a long journey or a surprisingly short one. But every journey begins with the first step.
Dr. Charles Smith
Chair, Wales for Europe.