To the EESC’s Communication Group meeting this morning, chaired by Anna Maria Darmanin, to listen to a guest speaker, former European Commission spokesperson and head of the Commission’s Brussels Representation, Willy Helin. A friend of many years’ standing (I have previously blogged about him here), Willy had come primarily to talk about a charitable organisation, Give EUR Hope,  he helped to establish and which enables EU officials to give to deserving local projects, but also to advise on how the EESC could be better integrated into the local communities that surround it. One of the problems the EESC faces is that it lies at the boundary between three different communes but, as Willy pointed out, most of Brussels’ communes now have an echevin of European affairs and so making structured contact with the local echevins is clearly the next step.