To La Monnaie this evening to see Krzysztof Warlikowski’s version of Alban Berg’s Lulu. This is the third Warlikowski production we have seen at La Monnaie, following on from Medée and Macbeth. When I think back to what I wrote in my previous posts, I could see echoes, particularly the distraction of what I call recurring visual ‘gadgets’ (among them, cigarettes, Lolita-style sunglasses, ‘singers getting undressed down to their underwear’, gratuitous vulgarity, glass boxes and visual references to iconic films and characters – on this occasion, notably, Heath Ledger’s Joker). But the similarities also included courageously bold risk-taking, a lavish production and superlative singing and acting. Indeed, Warlikowski’s bold risk-taking has on this occasion paid off royally. In the first place, whilst respecting and reinforcing the plot line of Wedekind’s original, he has successfully provided a convincing new take on the story. In the second place, he has, counter-intuitively, confronted a notoriously complex work (both in terms of plot and music) with further complexity and it works, because the basic plot line is respected throughout. The whole cast acted and sung well but Barbara Hannigan, in the title role this evening, was outstanding, convincingly depicting Berg’s femme fatale as truly mad, bad and dangerous to know.

We followed our series of post-America trip films this evening with a viewing of Gus Van Sant’s 2008 biographical film, Milk. Sean Penn turns in an extraordinary performance as the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California (as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors). The film is excellent on how a suppressed, rather reactionary, East-coaster turns into a liberated, liberal and committed West coast radical and about the compromises that are necessarily made between the public and the private in political life. This must have been an extremely difficult film to get right. For a start, the story had to include a number of mandatory scenes, and it had to be careful not to veer into schmalzy sentimentality. But the cast pull the whole thing off with aplomb and the director succeeds in giving a good sense of the era as well as of the man – or the men, and women, since Milk inspired a group of devoted followers. I haven’t read Randy Schilt’s biography but the film suggests that Milk’s death was not necessarily as arbitrary as it might have seemed. Josh Brolin also turns in an excellent performance as Milk’s tortured political rival and ultimately assassin, Dan White. The script suggests that Milk could maybe have compromised a little more with White and humiliated him a little less and hints that he didn’t because he sensed that White was suppressing his own identity. The link with our recent trip was that we saw Robert Arneson’s powerful portrayal of Mayor George Moscone, also assassinated by Dan White, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. In the work, Arneson juxtaposed a grinning bust with a bullet-ridden base full of cultural references and hate messages.

We got up in the dark and drove out of Brussels in thick and freezing fog. At Yvoir, on the Meuse, we boarded a ten-metre motor boat. For today we spent all day on the river, taking our practical test on driving large motorboats. This is just the first step in a course we are following that will lead, we hope, to our international licences. We will also have to sit and pass theoretical tests, but today went pretty well and we are over the first hurdle at any rate. The chief challenges in Belgian inland waters are, apart from reading and understanding nautical charts and navigation signals, understanding the effects of currents and navigating into and out of locks. The counter-intuitive lesson we learned was that the slower a motorboat goes, the less control you have, since the screw at the back acts as a sort of dynamic rudder. The knack, therefore, when navigating in enclosed spaces where both control and low speed are necessary, is to give the throttle little surges when necessary so as to regain momentary control over direction. As we chugged down the river to Namur, where we had lunch, something wonderful happened. The fog and mist gradually disappeared, to be replaced by a splendid blue sky and a still-warm sun. It was still pretty cold, especially on the water, but the beautiful weather, combined with the beautiful scenery all around us, and the good humour of our fellow students, turned this into an idyllic day.

So, this afternoon to the Rossi Contemporary Art Gallery for the vernissage of my better half’s vitrine (picture). The gallery owner, Francesco Rossi, likes to juxtapose the work of three or four different artists in the different spaces that he has at his disposal. I liked everything on show but I would like to dwell a little on Belgian architect, urbanist and artist, Luc Deleu, whose work consists of ‘propositions’ for urban life. One of them – city beehives – caught my eye, for it is something followers of this blog will know the European Economic and Social Committee has already implemented (there are two hives on our roof). But consider some other of his ideas: mobile monuments; car free noons; visible telephone wiring and electricity cables (as in much of Asia); protection of weeds; urban fish ponds… Deleu’s ideal world might be less practical than our real world but I suspect that it would be good fun!

Tomorrow is a big day for my better half, who has a vernissage at the Rossi Gallery ( http://www.rossicontemporary.be/ ) in the afternoon. Being married to an artist is an immense privilege because I have a ringside seat at the act of creation. I know what the strange hieroglyphic in the picture was originally and where it is to be found. I also know how much research, reflection, soul-searching and sheer hard work goes into the transformative act that every artist undertakes. And I know how courageous artists are in working to their authentic convictions. Rossi Contemporary, Rivoli Building, ground floor, N° 17 690, chaussée de Waterloo (Bascule), BE-1180 Brussels (gallery entrance = rue De Praetere), three till seven p.m.

This morning, in a simple ceremony at La Chapelle de la Resurrection, the European Economic and Social Committee commemorated the life of Baron Simon-Pierre Nothomb, the Committee’s fifth Secretary General (1992-1996), who passed away in March of this year. His widow and children were present. Among former colleagues in attendance were the sixth Secretary General, Adriano Graziosi (1996-1998) and Nothomb’s former Head of Private Office, now my Deputy Secretary General, Nicolas Alexopoulos. The latter reminded those present of the particular challenges that Simon-Pierre had faced, including most notably the creation of the Committee of the Regions in 1993-94 (a protocol to the Maastricht Treaty declared that the two Committees would be served by a common structure) and the 1995 accessions to the Union. Hugh Burton, a former director in the Committee, spoke of Nothomb’s firmness, inventiveness and sense of adventure. (He gave an example: During a hang-gliding trip, Nothomb spotted a house he liked. He landed, spoke to the owners and found that they were ready to sell. The house became what his family called his garçonière.). In my introduction (below) I explained that I had known two of Simon-Pierre’s brothers, Jean-François (met in Rome) and Charles-Ferdinand (in Brussels) and that what struck me most about the Nothomb family was their constant commitment to public service. Simon-Pierre lived his life very much in that tradition.

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At midday today the Secretary General’s team celebrated two birthdays, of Miguel and of Zoltan. As usual, a major attack was launched on my waistline and, as usual, the occasion and the participants were excellent examples of all that is good about Europe. Though we mostly happily forget the very special environment in which we work, I am always struck by the goegraphical and cultural  diversity that makes even a short office birthday celebration such a rich affair. Back row, left to right: Zoltan (Hungary), Jonna (Denmark), Martin (United Kingdom), Bernard (Belgium), Laura (Italy). Front row, left to right; Miguel (Spain), Anna (Slovakia), Fabrice (France). Not in the photograph: Julia, our current trainee (France).

This evening I went along to the farewell drinks party of Jürgen Schmehr (in the middle of the photograph), a Committee of the Regions colleague who has been working with the Committee’s Secretary General, Gerhard Stahl (on the right in the photo) and has been particularly involved in oiling the wheels of the cooperation agreement between the Committee of the Regions and the European Economic and Social Committee. It is in considerable part through Jürgen’s good, hard and loyal work that the mid term review of the cooperation agreement was so positive. In fact, Jürgen and I were once colleagues back in the European Commission, in DG Education and Culture. I was happy to attend as a friend and colleague but I hope my presence was also felt symbolically for, without exaggeration, Jürgen has been the personification of successful inter-institutional cooperation.

We had a most welcome visitor at the writers’ workshop this evening – Alice Jolly, a former member, who now lives back in the UK. Already an accomplished novelist, and having taken time out to try her hand at writing plays, Alice has just finished a third novel and is now polishing up the ms for publication. Alice is also a teacher of creative writing at Oxford University and we were all struck by her easy ability to critique perceptively and constructively. The success of several members who have recently left for other countries – Alice and Leila Rasheed back to the UK, Jeremy Duns to Sweden, makes me wonder whether a possible key to literary success might not be a change of scenery…

Back in Brussels, I spent this afternoon in a meeting of the Political Monitoring Group. This is the top level of the governance mechanisms that enable the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions to share a significant part of their human and financial resources (particularly translators, buildings and logistics) in Joint Services, thus generating considerable economies of scale and realising considerable savings for the taxpayer. The meeting passed off well, notwithstanding the fact that both Committees are having to tighten their belts in this period of austerity. I am always interested in the way the discussions demonstrate the specific authenticities of the two advisory bodies. As one would expect, representatives of local and regional authorities refer frequently to their experiences in the town- or city hall setting, whereas our members, not surprisingly, adopt a businessman’s or a trade unionist’s, or an NGO’s approach. The two approaches are clearly complementary. Recently, the two Committees have agreed to work together more frequently at political level and if these discussions on relatively technocratic issues are anything to go by, such joint approaches can only result in much richer contributions to the European Union’s policy-making debates, particularly in areas such as the Europe 2020 strategy, where the members of both Committees have their feet firmly planted in the real world.