The ninth of these biennial symposia, arranged by the European fusion laboratories, was attended by 240 participants and hosted by the Max-Planck- Institut für Plasmaphysik, Garching. About 140 papers were presented in ten topic areas and poster presentation was used for about one third of them — an innovation at these symposia, which participants for the most part welcomed. To provide a framework for the specialist papers, there were invited lectures to review long-term fusion plans around the world, and a panel session to assess the situation on reactor systems studies — the extent to which they were realistic both in their scientific and technological assumptions and in taking account of the requirements of the eventual customers.