This evening I accompanied the President, Staffan Nilsson, and the Vice-President with responsibility for communication, Anna Maria Darmanin, in welcoming to the Committee the Heads of the European Commission’s representations in the member states. The Committee would never have the ambition, let alone the resources, to set up its own offices in the member states and yet it attaches a great deal of importance to the concept of ‘going local’ or, rather, in the case of our members, who do not spend most of their time in Brussels, on ‘staying local’. The Committee has therefore sought close cooperation with the European Commission in order to ensure close cooperation and, where appropriate, involvement of representatives of organised civil society in activities based in the member states. As the picture illustrates, the Commission is an enthusiastically willing partner. For, like the Committee, the Commission long ago realised that when it comes to communication matters the EU institutions are all playing in the same team.