On 1 March, Joseph Jamar, a Belgian national, took office as head of representation of the European Commission in Brussels. Since joining the European Commission in 1994 he has worked successively in the Directorates-General responsible for Education and Culture, Press and Information, Research and, finally, from 2005 to 2011, Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion. He launched several innovative projects, such as the European SME Week, the Netd@ys, the Youth on the Move campaign and the European Job Day. He was also responsible for two European years: Lifelong Learning (1996) and Workers’ Mobility (2006). Before joining the Commission, Jamar worked at the College of Europe and at Coopers & Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers).