From
Never Say Ethnic: The Poltical Culture of Devolution
by Ned Thomas, Planet 136:

The same enlightened opinion in Wales that supports autonomy or even independence for ethnic Albanians in Kosovo recoils appalled at the use of the same word in a Welsh context. Politicians prefer to speak of Welsh citizenship, and understandably so, when according to the 1991 census, twenty-five per cent of the population were born outside Wales. As Lindsay Paterson and Richard Wyn Jones put it: "Civic identity would be most closely associated with defining identity in terms of residence, ethnic with defining it in terms of descent. "

In the complex situation in which we find ourselves in relation to identity, I don't think the opposition of "ethnic Wales" and "citizen's Wales" is very helpful, though I can well understand why politicians wish to abjure the former and embrace the latter. It is a way of saying that everyone must feel there is a place for them here, but the question is always: On what terms? Political life is about choices, and in a democracy the choices that are made reflect the complexion and settled will of that society.

The trouble with the word "ethnic" is that it brings with it a conceptual baggage that Western Europe finds it hard to accept. Throughout the German-speaking countries and in much of central and eastern Europe, the concept of the Volksgruppe prevails, sometimes in a civilised context, but at other times exploited by racism and extreme nationalism. The Danes living on the German side of the border with Germany are well-treated today but as an ethnic group, meaning a group united by language, culture and to a degree blood. If you were to move there from Wales and wished to send your children to a Danish rather than a German school, you would have to show some connection - maybe one grandmother would do - with the Danish ethnic group. This concept of the ethnic group is suspect further West in Europe and clearly very inappropriate in Wales where the Welsh-by-langauge-Welsh-by-blood correlation doesn't work because of extensive language loss and language learning in different periods.

On top of this we have the curious English usage of "ethnic languages" meaning usually Asian languages in the UK, though why these should be more ethnic than other people's languages I find baffling. At worst it is a racial categorization, at best it means that these languages are colourful elements in an allegedly multi-cultural society - in fact a society in which one language and culture are central, the others marginal. But provided the emphasis on the group is held in check by a proper respect for individual rights and that people from outside are able to join the group, the Volksgruppe concept is not wholly to be rejected. It makes the point that culture and values are transmitted in the people, in families, in the informal life of neighbourhood, in the everyday language of the group and that these things predate and are then reflected in political and civic institutions. Above all it asserts that the life of groups as well as of individuals deserves some recognition and respect...