Moreover, this summit has a special culinary element (or so I imagine): with a troïka of Spanish, Belgian and Hungarian presidencies, what will teh menu look like? At least, when we had the Swedes, we knew meatballs would be a given. But this time? Tapas followed by “Lapin à la gueuze” with Belgian Fries and a nice Tokaji wine to close the loop? So much choice, so little time!

But obviously, the menu will not be the main concern. No, ladies and gentlemen: it’s “Vision setting” time.

So what do we, Euro-spectators, need at such a crucial and future-shaping time: our very own “EU Buzzword Bingo Grid” (get yours here)

Finally, an EU Geek Grid

For those of you that have not had the joy of working in large corporations where meetings tend to be places of great creativity and joy, the Buzzword Bingo grid (and I am quoting Wikipedia) :

“ was invented in 1993 by Silicon Graphics Principle Scientist Tom Davis, in collaboration with Seth Katz. The concept was popularized by a Dilbert comic strip in 1994, in which the characters play during an office meeting.

One documented example occurred when Al Gore, then the Vice President of the United States, known for his liberal use of buzzwords hyping technology, spoke at MIT’s 1996 graduation. Hackers had distributed bingo cards containing buzzwords to the graduating class.”

But having a grid is only half the work. The next step is to use it vocally. Invite a bunch of friends over for dinner, listen to that closing speech by the EU brass and don’t be shy to shout a wholeheartedly felt “Bingo” when you have that full grid. The grid being quite comprehensive, you can equally use it once that EU2020 Vision gets issued in a nice glossy official document. There, additional rules can be introduced: you get extra points if you spot 3 Buzzwords in the same sentences or if you were able to identify a buzzword in a different language (yes, we do believe in promoting multi-lingualism), etc.

Setting the vision for Europe for the next 10 years should be an important moments…but that doesn’t mean it should not make you smile!