This morning the European Economic and Social Committee’s ‘Enlarged Presidency’ (the President, Vice-Presidents, Group Presidents and the Secretary General) met, and this afternoon it was the turn of the so-called ‘Enlarged Enlarged Presidency’ (all of the above, plus the Section and CCMI Presidents) to meet. Hugo of New York will be happy to note the return of Howard Taft (my ‘enlarged President’) but how on earth might I illustrate an Enlarged Enlarged Presidency? Any suggestions would be most gracefully received. As to the meetings, these had intense and rich agendas and bore many positive results. I cannot reveal state secrets but I can record that there was a particularly fruitful debate on the EESC’s follow-up to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso’s call for a qualitative leap forward in the integration process. This, after all, is precisely what the EESC has been calling for in a series of opinions.