It’s plenary session week again for the European Economic and Social Committee – the last of the year. As usual, I chaired the management board early yesterday morning, and the subsequent ‘pre-session meeting’. This morning the enlarged Presidency met early to prepare for this afternoon’s  Bureau meeting. All of these meetings went smoothly and productively. Traditionally I would illustrate the enlarged Presidency with a picture of Howard Taft and the Bureau with a picture of … a bureau. But this time I am posting a picture I sneaked in the enlarged Presidency meeting this morning. This is because I am in frank admiration of the sheer physical stamina of the man chairing the meeting, our President, Staffan Nilsson. The previous day he had been in Oslo for the peace prize ceremony. Like the other Presidents of the EU institutions, he had been at the gala dinner and participated in the subsequent torch-lit parade. And then, as he recounted, he was driven to a military airfield and flown back to Brussels, arriving here at 02.30 in the morning. My picture was taken just five hours later.

The European Economic and Social Committee’s President, Staffan Nilsson, was in Oslo’s city hall this midday (see picture), part of the European Union’s delegation, there to witness the bestowal of the Nobel Peace Prize. I watched part of the ceremony live and found it immensely moving. A lot of critical comment has been expressed about the award of the prize to the EU but, surely, the prize is entirely appropriate this time (and I do not mean that arrogantly – the prize was, after all, awarded to all Europeans). As Thorbjorn Jagland, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, put it, “What this continent has achieved is truly fantastic, from being a continent of war to becoming a continent of peace.” Those determined to be irritated will surely have been provoked by the likening, in European Council President Herman Van Rompuy’s acceptance remarks, of the EU to the emerging US. But, as I blogged over the summer, particularly when I was in Washington, I think there are growing similarities and we would do well to study American history and be enlightened by it. Yes, as Van Rompuy said, the current economic crisis is “putting the political bonds of our union to the test,” but, echoing Lincoln, “what is being assessed today is whether that union, or any union so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.” The Union, Van Rompuy concluded, will “answer with our deeds, confident we will succeed.” And that is because, to echo Jean Monnet, we are determined to do so. Our President’s presence was a symbolic recognition that European civil society and civil society organisations have played their part in this magnificent achievement.

N° 1, no longer a sprog, alas, asked if we could go and see The Snowman (nostalgia isn’t what it used to be). So this afternoon we set off to the Auderghem Cultural Centre and sat happily through the annual charity performance of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and then Raymond Briggs’s and Howard Blake’s timeless The Snowman. We used to come every year, until the children grew out of it. I not so secretly enjoyed our return but, then, I defy anyone not to enjoy this simple, touching tale of mischief and mystery.

It was high time to put up the Christmas tree at home (the tree went up in the entrance hall of the Jacques Delors building this week), so this morning we went to a pepinière and brought home a decent-sized tree and dressed it whilst listening to carols. Unlike the question of snow, I felt on safer ground in recalling that the traditional Christmas tree has its origins in Renaissance and early modern Germany but I should have known better than to think that the trail ended there. Looking it up, I was interested to learn (this from the Encyclopaedia Brittanica) that ‘The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands to symbolize eternal life was a custom of the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. Tree worship was common among the pagan Europeans and survived their conversion to Christianity in the Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the devil and of setting up a tree for the birds during Christmastime.’ The Wiki entry gives an alternative origin: the tree being ‘identified with the “tree of paradise” of medieval mystery plays that were given on 24 December, the commemoration and name day of Adam and Eve in various countries. In such plays, a tree decorated with apples (to represent the forbidden fruit) and wafers (to represent the Eucharist and redemption) was used as a setting for the play. Like the Christmas crib, the Paradise tree was later placed in homes. The apples were replaced by round objects such as shiny red balls.’ The Wiki account is particularly interesting on how Brunswick soldiers first brought the tradition to North America (Quebec) in 1781 and it was Germans who also brought the tradition to America.

I came back for lunch with the distinguished guest speakers this morning. Sirkka Hämalainen is a Finnish economist, former Governor of the Bank of Finland and a former member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank. David Walker is the Director of the European Administration (EuAS). Over the table Hämalainen told us that she was fiercely against quotas and she recounted several counter-intuitive examples where Finnish institutions are having trouble recruiting men to senior positions. David is an old friend and colleague (we started together in the old DG X) and it was great to see him again. The EuAS does a huge amount of good work, supporting not only middle and senior management but also new officials and assistants hoping to become administrators. No description of the morning would be complete without mention of Monika Zarczuk’s contribution. Currently a trainee with the Committee, Monika is unsighted and explained admirably to the participants how she manages her professional activities. A good morning’s work, then, with plenty of food for thought.

Early this morning I delivered the opening remarks at a seminar bringing together all of the EESC’s Heads of Unit (and those of our Joint Services, shared with the Committee of the Regions) to consider a series of common themes and challenges. During the morning they would hear from a number of guest speakers and participate in a number of debates. In my little speech I tried to set the scene. I brought along a study, by Paul Du Gay, entitled In Praise of Bureaucracy. In today’s modern states, Du Gay argues, you cannot have a democracy without a bureaucracy. Put another way, bureaucracies are integral parts of our democracies. As so often, the Americans are far more advanced in their thinking. Not only do they recognise that the federal and state bureaucracies are integral parts of federal and state democracy but, they argue, for those democracies to be truly democratic the bureaucracies must also be democratic, which means that they must be representative. And that is precisely the issue the Heads of Unit were considering today, for diversity and assuring the rights of all people are important aspects of representativeness. The European Economic and Social Committee sees itself as an important flanking partner in the European Union’s democratic life and so therefore the onus is also on us to ensure, through better representativeness, that our bureaucracy, our administration, is more democratic.

I woke early this morning to a blizzard. I decided to leave my bike at home and walked into work. Suddenly, there was a biblical air to the world and it felt like Christmas and seasonal carols such as In the Bleak Midwinter started to come back to my mind. Why is it that we associate snow with Christmas? I know Christmas was grafted onto old winter festivals but why the snow? Could it be because of Charles Dickens’s Christmas Carol? Or is it because of Breughel’s paintings? Or is it more to do with the fact that the celebration of Christmas as a major feast day coincided with the arrival of a mini ice age in Europe?

This evening it was time once again for the best party in town – the EESC staff committee’s Christmas party. This year there was not much time after the elections to prepare everything but nevertheless our wonderful colleagues pulled out all the stops to produce once again an extraordinary feast for the eyes and for the tummy! Spread out on the stands were delicacies – many home-made – and drinks from all the Union’s member states and regions. In previous years I have posted a picture of our Czech biscuit makers’ art, but this year I am posting a picture of what our Bulgarian colleagues managed to do with cauliflowers and a carrot! Oh; and I haven’t yet mentioned the musicians and the dancing and the displays. Well done, everybody!

This afternoon I met with my counterpart in the Committee of the Regions, Gerhard Stahl, together with the directors and deputy directors of the two Committees’ joint services (translation and logistics) and our own directors of finance and human resources. These meetings, held at regular intervals, are part of the governance mechanism that enable the two consultative Committees to pool significant quantities of their resources and hence realise important economies of scale and synergies. We take it in turns to host the meetings. This time we were hosted by the Committee of the Regions (on the wall in the picture are portraits of the Committee’s Presidents to date). As always, the meeting went well and agreement was reached on all points.