Catalan newspaper Diari Ara<\/a> during a visit to Barcelona last week, Morgan said: \u201cThe polls are very volatile. The Welsh Labour party has been in government since the establishment of our parliament 26 years ago. When you have been in power for that long, you have a lot to defend.\u201d<\/p>\nPressed on May\u2019s election, she added: \u201cThe Labour party, which is the government of the United Kingdom, is not very popular and that is affecting our popularity. I don\u2019t know if people are choosing the nationalist party or trying to stop the most right-wing force, Reform UK.\u201d<\/p>\n
Striking a combative tone with her party colleagues at Westminster, Morgan said: \u201cWe have to use the power that we have well, but we need more tools to better serve people. We have been clear with the UK [government] and we will not back down. We won\u2019t change our opinion because there is a Labour government at Westminster.\u201d<\/p>\n
The interview took place as Morgan visited Catalonia and the Basque Country to sign new memorandums of understanding with the countries\u2019 governments which commit them to working together on technology and renewable energy, as well as language and culture.<\/p>\n
Morgan signed the document with the leader of Labour\u2019s Catalan sister party, Salvador Illa, who won last year\u2019s elections when pro-independence lost their decade-long majority as supporters stayed at home amid fatigue which its leaders attributed to \u201cdivision and repression\u201d.<\/p>\n
Asked if Catalonia\u2019s independence process had any lessons for Wales, Morgan added: \u201cIt has been interesting to see how things have changed in Catalonia over the last few years and how the attempt to force independence has gone backwards slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cCatalonia is in a very different position. Economically it\u2019s very strong in comparison to the rest of Spain, and that is not the position of Wales. It would be almost impossible for us to support ourselves economically without causing great difficulties for Welsh people.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven the nationalists, Plaid Cymru, have said that there won\u2019t be a referendum in the next four or five years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rhodri Morgan was First Minister when Wales first signed a memorandum of understanding with the Catalan government in 2001.<\/p>\n
Value<\/p>\n
The Catalan government\u2019s ambassador to the UK, Francesc Claret, told Nation.Cymru that it was important to replace that \u201cvery broad\u201d document with \u201csomething specific, something that can add value both to Catalonia and to Wales.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Catalan Government is interested in the Welsh Government\u2019s plan to reach one million Welsh speakers but also its investment in the production of semiconductors amid a global shortage in the computer chips which is causing problems for the supply of goods from cars to mobile phones.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the Welsh Government is keen to cooperate with the Catalan Government on its Aini project which helps companies embed the Catalan language in apps, search engines, voice assistants and social media and could be used to increase the presence of the Welsh language on digital platforms.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to increase cooperation between Catalonia and Wales and convert it into practical actions that help advance our countries,\u201d said Catalan president Salvador Illa at the signing event in Barcelona.<\/p>\n
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\n the people of Wales.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eluned Morgan in Catalonia Luke James First Minister Eluned Morgan has blamed the unpopularity of the UK Labour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-367134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FM-EM-Eluned-Morgan-Catalonia-7-January-2026-e1767826635474.jpg\")
Eluned Morgan in Catalonia<\/p>\n