On 9 December 1949, reporting on the opening of the European Conference on Culture the previous day, the Gazette de Lausanne publishes an exchange of letters between the Swiss essayist, Denis de Rougement, and the Romanian writer, Virgil Gheorghiu, who outlines the reasons why he is reluctant to attend. In reply, Denis de Rougement gives grounds for hope and calls on Gheorghiu to become an ‘active pessimist'.