Programme for Europe, in Naples

Later in the morning I accompanied the President, Mario Sepi, and the President of our Employers’ Group, Henri Malosse, to the City Hall, Palazzo San Giacomo, where we had a meeting with the city’s mayor,  the redoubtable Rosa Russo Iervolino, followed by a conference with local (from Campania) representatives of civil society organisations, with the EESC’s freshly-adopted Programme for Europe as the theme for the discussion. There was a lot of agitation outside the conference room as we arrived. The mayor was deep in animated discussions because the City Council was facing a crisis related to the adoption of the City’s budget (the discussions were about the search for a winning majority). Still, she took time out to greet and meet us. The following conference went very well. The room was packed, but it wasn’t just any old room. It was an ancient, gilt-lined room with ancient paintings hanging from the walls and tall windows looking out over the castle and the passenger port. Few mayors can have such spectacular and reassuring views as the mayor of Naples has from her office. I left early after the buffet lunch for a walk around the Spanish Quarter. The rain bucketed down but it simply didn’t matter (anyway, the umbrella sellers suddenly appeared on the pavements!). Here’s a question to all of you out there; is there a good film set in the Spanish Quarter? If not, there surely should be. It must be one of the most atmospheric and authentic inner city areas in Europe. In the afternoon, it was back to work, but nobody wants to know about that, do they?