The Welsh Heritage Minister, Alun Ffred Jones, became the first person to speak Welsh formally at an institutional meeting of the European Union as he led the UK delegation to the EU Council of Culture Ministers in Brussels on 19 November.
Speaking after the meeting he described it as a "historic event" as it would "help normalise the language and help to strengthen the image of Wales at the international level, economically and culturally."
The opportunity came after years of campaigning for the official use of non-member state languages such as Basque, Catalan, and Galician, by autonomous governments and NGOs. Currently, work is underway to extend the provision to Scottish Gaelic.