Could it be that no longer being an official loosens tongues and relaxes the duty of confidentiality? Virginio Dastoli has ended his job as European Commission representative in Italy, to which he was appointed in July 2003 after a stint as Altiero Spinelli's parliamentary assistant from 1976 to 1986 and then secretary general for the Federalist Intergroup at the European Parliament and manager of the European Federalist Movement. With this high-powered CV, nobody would have any doubts about his European credentials. But his latest editorial in the Commission's Rome publication did not only talk about the past but also sent some messages to the European institutions and the member states. Virginio Dastoli regrets that the 2004 European elections were viewed by the Commission as a domestic issue for the member states and national political parties, and banned Commission representatives from taking action to ensure people understood what the EU brought them. He says the EU got it wrong in making enlarging the EU a priority over deepening the EU. He adds that when signing the draft European Constitution in Rome, some governments were secretly hoping it would be a failure. Dastoli believes the Berlin Declaration that was formerly adopted by all governments on the fiftieth anniversary of the Treaty of Rome has been “carefully buried in the Council archives”. Virginio Dastoli hoped that it would still be possible to move in the direction of a federal European state, adding that Altiero Spinelli's teachings would not be forgotten. (F.R./transl.fl)