March o'clock and all's clear!

This afternoon my CoR counterpart, Gerhard Stahl, and I co-chaired a regular meeting of the two Secretaries-General and the Directors of what we call the ‘joint services’. Under the terms of a cooperation agreement the two Committees pool their resources to achieve economies of scale which are to the benefit of both Committees and, I always argue, an example to the other EU institutions. The purpose of these meetings is to discuss common concerns and to take those operation decisions which may have bubbled up to our level. Mostly, though, it’s our job to set the mood music and make sure that the cooperation agreement works well. Our role is not unlike that of the old night watchmen, who would tour the city at night, assuring the citizenry that all was well. Well, all is well.