There are two reasons why we have chosen to put Angela Merkel on the cover. The first, as the title (Climate? I care) indicates, was inspired by the role the German Chancellor has played in the adoption of the first consistent European plan to reduce emissions. The second relates to the relaunching of the European Union 50 years after it was formed. The Dossier (with contributions by Donato Speroni, Fiorella Kostoris, Marzio Galeotti, Antonio Barbangelo, Noè Van Hulstand Simone Cofferati) and the editorial by Renato Ruggiero, who is collaborating closely with the Prodi government in this regard, aredevoted to these two aspects. Going beyond evaluations of the merit of the two projects, which are of course necessary, one thing is certain: Angela Merkel is demonstrating a determination and leadership capacity that Europe has not witnessed for a long time.
The geo-political articles by Piero Sinatti and Giorgio S. Frankel are extremely interesting. Sinatti looks at a hitherto relatively unpublicised aspect of Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy, i.e. relations with the Middle East. Frankel, for his part, analyses the race towards nuclear rearmament on the part of the U.S. as well as Russia and China: a worrying scenario that is worth re-examining in the coming months. As regards the economy, east has previewed a few chapters of a book on China by Alessia Amighini and Stefano Chiarlone. Another article worth mentioning is the one on the first European charter on the rights of sick people. Written by Giovanni Moro, the article anticipates the actual charter drafted by various Europeanassociations and institutions.
Finally, two different but undoubtedly original cultural contributions: an excursus by Massimo Libardi into the great Mitteleuropean philosophy and a profile of the anthropological journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski, who passed away in January this year, by Monika Bulaj and Paolo Rumiz.
