The culmination, only yesterday, of the many months of negotiations for the next seven-year EU budget is solid and welcome grounds for renewed optimism at the closing of an intense and challenging year.

Starting next month - January 2021 - the largest ever EU budget of €1.8 trillion will go into effect and the first calls for proposals will be launched, setting the EU on the path to realising a diverse range of ambitious objectives. From a Green Deal to a Digital Europe; from renewable energy and healthcare to a 'smart' future; and from Africa to Scandinavia - Europe is deepening its commitments both within and beyond EU borders.

As we stand on the verge of this new beginning, the view is filled with a great and growing wealth of opportunities to get involved in delivering these objectives. We can say with a certainty that the year ahead will be as intense as this one, but this time, it is filled with promise.

To borrow the words of Charles Dickens, we wish you a season of light and a Spring of hope, in which we will have everything before us.

See you in 2021.