“I want to express my whole-hearted congratulations to the Leopoldina, to its President Jörg Hacker and his predecessor Volker ter Meulen, and to the members and staff of the Leopoldina on this milestone birthday as the German National Academy. Your being named the German National Academy and the resulting working relationship with other academies in a joint standing committee was the start of a success story in scientific consultancy for politics and society. The science academies have been working cooperatively and extremely productively for ten years now. This academy-based model of policy consultation has consequently become the paradigm for policy consultation at the EU level. For this cooperative effort they and the Leopoldina are owed my special thanks and a debt of gratitude.”