This morning, together with my counterpart at the Committee of Regions, Gerhard Stahl, I co-chaired a joint meeting bringing us together with all of our directors and deputy directors working in our ‘joint services’ (a mutual pooling of human and other resources which enables both Committees to make considerable economies). The meeting is one part of a whole series of governance mechanisms set out in a cooperation agreement between the two Committees that meet quite frequently and provide for differences and problems to be resolved in consensual fashion and for mutual challenges to be anticipated and resolved. The meeting, like every other I have attended in this context, went very well. The simple truth is that the cooperation between the two administrations works very well. The illustration is a photo I sneaked. This time we were hosted by the Committee of the Regions. The pictures on the wall are all of the Committee’s Presidents since its creation in 1993.