Sorry, Ban; wrong meeting, I'm afraid...

From time to time the Secretaries-General of the European Union’s institutions meet to discuss common challenges and themes. The tradition has grown of the different institutions taking it in turns to host these meetings and today, since the two consultative bodies share their buildings, it was the turn of the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. There are two parts to the meeting. A more formal part, with an established agenda and in the presence of staff from our private offices, and then a lunch, strictly entre nous. Both parts are useful. The formal agenda must of course remain secret but I would not be giving away state secrets if I said that there were discussions related to the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, which we are all determined to make a success. Management gurus frequently advise top management to plug into an informal network of similar top managers and that is what, in a sense, the lunches are about. They are certainly useful moments to swap notes on common challenges that, on a daily basis, we mostly face individually.