This morning I went to the Fondation Universitaire to give a keynote speech on the Lisbon Treaty and its effects on the institutional dynamics of the European Union. My audience were an Erasmus  network of academics and researchers collectively known as Lisboan. My main theme was the importance of implementing all of the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty, including those concerning the democratic life of the Union (Title II of the Treaty). I argued in this context that we should not sidestep one of the ironies of the Treaty, that the gap between the EU and its citizens that the Treaty was designed to narrow grew in its absence. But the provisions the Treaty contains to narrow that gap were the results of a considered reflection process that did not only include the Convention but also the European Commission’s preceding White Paper on Governance (2001). The picture shows my audience, which included the distinguished figure (standing) of Brendan Donnelly, a former MEP and now Director of the UK’s Federal Trust.