Listening to today’s debates and votes, I was struck by how much of the Committee’s work is currently devoted, in one way or another, to the crisis, how to overcome it, and how to deal with its consequences. Thus, the plenary today debated and adopted opinions inter alia on: restructuring and anticipation of change: what lessons from recent experience? (Rapporteur = Antonello Pezzini, Employers’ Group, Italy; Co-rapporteur = Thomas Student, Employees’ Category, Germany); what changes for Europe’s banking sector with the new financial rules? (Rapporteur = Anna Nietyksza, Employers’ Group, Poland; Co-rapporteur = Pierre Gendre, Employees’ Catgeory, France); Youth Opportunties Initiative (Rapporteur = Tomasz Jasinski, Employees’ Group, Poland); White Paper on Pensions (Rapporteur = Petru Sorin Dandea, Emplyees’ Group, Romania; Co-rapporteur = Krzysztof Pater, Various Interests Group, Poland); Key actions towards a Single Market Act II (Rapporteur = Ivan Voles, Employers’ Group, Czech Republic); and Stability Bonds (Rapporteur = Gérard Dantin, Employees’ Group, France). All of these opinions were adopted by large majorities, thus underlining the consensus within the Committee, often expressed in debate on all sides, that the Union must continue to be a Union of solidarity and not be distracted and diverted into arguments about juste retour.