Normally on this blog I am able to point to some big, set-piece meetings or events that occur during the week. This week, it is true, there were some important set-piece meetings; not the least of them our EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) steering committee meeting on Wednesday, our last before the audit itself that will, we hope, lead to both the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions achieving their aim of a successful audit. There have also been several meetings to do, in one way or another, with the drafting exercise for the Committee’s 2012 budget, but that is normal; the Committee has to submit its draft by March. Above all, though, this was a week characterised by a very large number of small meetings, many of them with one, or just a few, individuals, and it explains why there have been no work-related posts on the blog until today.