Early this morning I chaired an emergency meeting to review the ash cloud situation and then went to the President with a recommendation, which he followed, to cancel all of the Committee’s meetings until Wednesday. We will review the situation tomorrow morning. It is not just about whether we can get our members to Brussels and back. We also considered the availability of interpretation (many interpreters are free-lancers who fly to Brussels for meetings). Above all, we do not wish to impose on members or on staff the sort of situation which our intrepid bus travellers from Madrid had to endure (left Madrid yesterday morning, arrived Brussels this morning at five). The President’s decision is a balanced one. Alas, the meeting of the Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society, scheduled for tomorrow, is a grievous loss and will have planning consequences for our consultative work and plenary agendas. But even if the flight ban had been lifted today, it would have been impossible for members to arrive in numbers for tomorrow morning.