This evening I attended an event to celebrate the European Centre for Public Affairs’ twenty-fifth anniversary but also to recognise the achievements of its outgoing and founding Executive Director, Tom Spencer, and to welcome his successor, Caroline De Cock. Tom has recently finished writing a history of the ECPA which will, I am sure, deal with far more than the organisation itself. A former much-respected member of the European Parliament, Tom has over the years treated his friends and colleagues to incisive and witty briefings about European and world developments and I very much hope these will continue.