Over the past four days the EESC has held two Bureau meetings and one plenary session. It has changed or renewed all of its office holders, from the new President, Mario Sepi, down to the Section Presidents. On Wednesday afternoon, after Mario Sepi’s inaugural address, it held an important and intellectually stimulating round table on the theme of ‘globalisation guided by rights and solidarity’. It adopted a number of important opinions, including a major opinion on the CAP Health Check, a timely own-initiative opinion on ‘the ethical and social dimension of European financial institutions’ and a deeply moving and encouraging information report on the European Union’s role in the Northern Ireland peace process. To find out more about all of this, please visit the EESC’s webpages. From my point of view, the most satisfying thing is that it all worked (these were my first Bureau meetings and my first plenary session).