Notre Europe's viewpoint | 19/04/2011 

The Notre Europe team would like to thank and pay tribute to Gaëtane Ricard-Nihoul for her immense contribution, as Secretary General, to the growth of our association over the last seven years.

Under the successive presidencies of Jacques Delors, Pascal Lamy and Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Gaëtane steered the transformation of Notre Europe from a Research and Policy Unit into a European think tank. Her commitment over this period guaranteed continuity in our thinking, which has remained faithful to the vision of our founding President Jacques Delors.

Notre Europe's activities have continuously developed and expanded, in particular in those areas present since its founding in 1996 – institutions, economic and social issues, and cohesion. The area of research and action has been widened to include such fields as agriculture, identity, democracy, energy, world governance, etc. Our fundamental principles have been defined in Notre Europe's Charter, drawn up by the deft hand of Gaëtane.

Gaëtane joined Notre Europe at a special moment for the EU, with challenges both positive such as the enlargement to 27 Member States and negative – the “no” referendums on the European constitution, the difficult birth of the Lisbon Treaty, and the economic crisis.

Under Gaëtane's guidance, Notre Europe accompanied these developments with in-depth analyses and policy proposals. It tirelessly pushed for an opening of the European debate to non-specialists, for instance by means of the Europe Forum (États généraux d'Europe) and the participatory democracy project Tomorrow's Europe.

Gaëtane was able both to manage the day-to-day work of the Notre Europe team and to continue her own research work, which focused in particular on institutions and democracy.

She worked to build and strengthen links with other think tanks in Europe and in France in order to create enduring links and synergies, and also to draw attention to Notre Europe's ideas and propositions in other Member States. This was done by means of publications and involvement in the European think tank network EPIN, and also through the Think Global Act European report (TGAE) – a document produced with a group of other European think tanks to accompany each Trio Presidency of the EU.

Over the last few years Notre Europe has also changed in appearance: a new logo, a new website, new methods of communication and a new place. Under Gaëtane's leadership the team has grown each year, and this has allowed a widening and stabilisation of Notre Europe's research as well as greater visibility. The number of approaches from other organisations and the media has risen in consequence.

Gaëtane has been able to forge a motivated, efficient and tight-knit team. Her professionalism, expertise and team management have given each of us the confidence necessary to find success in our projects. Trust and exigency are the two pillars of the “community method” that she has put in place at Notre Europe.

We pay tribute also to Gaëtane's ability to juggle the Notre Europe adventure with her family life, including the birth and first steps of two little Europeans – Simon and Paul-Louis.

The trust that Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Jacques Delors and Pascal Lamy have placed in her to direct the work of Notre Europe and its team is testament to the quality of the decisions she has taken.

We are pleased to note that Gaëtane will continue to play an active role in Notre Europe, through its board of directors.

We wish her every success for the future and in her new post at the European Commission's Representation in France.

The Notre Europe team.