I try to welcome personally every new official starting at the Committee and to thank and say farewell to every official leaving the administration (generally those retiring). This morning I said thank you and farewell to quite a few retiring officials and I was deeply heartened by the fact that so many of them intend to devote some of the free time they will now have to voluntary and charity work of one sort or another, particularly those who plan to stay in Brussels. This observation sort of follows on from my lunchtime discussion with Alain Deneef yesterday and it is also, clearly, a hidden benefit for Brussels and the Brussels Region of having so many European civil servants on its territory.