This morning I joined a number of colleagues and friends in the European Parliament for the launch party for Henri Malosse’s new book (co-authored with Laure Limousin), La Construction Européenne: Histoires et avenir d’une Europe des peuples. Currently President of the Employers’ Group of the European Economic and Social Committee, Henri is passionately committed to the European integration process and this book illustrates his conviction that, to paraphrase one of his observations, the European future is not just possible but vitally necessary. And in that future Henri sees a pre-eminent place and role for civil society. The most touching part of the book comes at the end, after the learned analysis and policy recommendations, where Henri dedicates a ‘postface’ to his son and, though him, to all young Europeans. The book is, he concludes, an appeal to the ‘refounding generation’.