In September 2017 the EESC formally constituted the "Liberal Professions" Category regrouping EESC Members representing professional organizations or being professionals themselves. This category will start to work 1st of January 2018. The Category counts Members coming from six member States covering the north, south, east and western areas of the European Union. The Category will meet three times a year to monitor and discuss the latest political and legislative developments at European level affecting the exercise of the professions. Formerly this activity was carried out by Members within a Category regrouping also Members from the SMEs and Crafts sectors. The decision to create a separate Category for the liberal professions testifies the renewed engagement to the very aim of the Category: to make sure that the professions act upon a common ground ensuring that they reach their potential in the European Union in the coming years. In this respect the extraordinary meeting of the Diversity Europe Group in Rome entitled "The Liberal Professions, a lever for the Development of Europe: towards a European Manifesto of Professionals" can be considered a founding stone for the future activity of the Category and a contribution to the new working method of platforms to enable the European stakeholders to contribute to the process.