The volunteers just before the doors opened...

Today, Saturday, 8th May, was Open Doors Day in the EU institutions and the European Economic and Social Committee took its proud place alongside the other institutions in the European quarter in throwing open its doors and warmly welcoming in European citizens. We started at nine with a coordination meeting. The doors opened at 10.00 and the traffic of curious visitors steadily grew throughout the day. As ‘Captain of the Ship’ (well, first mate) I was there from beginning to end and I am immensely proud and happy about the way the event went. No less than twenty-one of our members participated, some coming from far away (Greece, Malta…). Sixty-one officials, all volunteers, worked throughout the day, manning stalls, showing visitors around, answering questions, supervising and, more generally, welcoming our visitors – and by close of play at 18.00 there had been around 4,500 of them. A fun day – and a tiring one.