This morning our new President presented his work programme. Whilst he spoke, the screens in the hemicycle displayed maps of Europe from the following years: 1289, 1648, 1801, 1864, 1919, 1945 and 2010. The eloquence of these cartographic ebbs and flows echoed the sentiments of Staffan’s speech. For, as he reminded us, each of those boundary changes had involved great human suffering and destruction of people and places and goods. (It was also a strong echo of the sentiments Max Kohnstamm – see previous post – had expressed to the Committee’s March 2007 plenary session.) The overall leitmotif of Staffan Nilsson’s Presidency is ‘engaging people for a sustainable Europe’ and, under that banner, his programme addresses three main priorities; dialogue and participation; sustainability and growth; and solidarity and development. Now we must deliver!