Late this morning we had a meeting of my secretariat, the people who work directly with me. It was at one and the same time a poignant and encouraging occasion, for there is a new head of the secretariat, Miguel Colera, who joins us from the Consultative Commission on Industrial Change. The previous head, Eleonora Di Nicolantonio, has moved on to wonderful things. It is no disrespect to Miguel if I write that her departure was a hard wrench for me. I am sure it will be the same when and if Miguel moves on, for the SG necessarily works very closely with his chef. But the occasion was also a happy one, with everybody back and rested and ready for a busy autumn. In the picture, left to right, are me (British), Anna (Slovakian), Laura (Italian), Bernard (Belgian), Jonna (Danish), Zoltan (Hungarian), Miguel (Spanish) and Fabrice (French). I have an excellent team and, the bonus for all EU civil servants, they each bring their different cultures with them, thus enriching daily life (and, alas, also extending my waistline). Oh, yes; the chap in the picture behind us is Jacques Genton, the first Secretary General of the Committee. I wrote about him here.