Dear friends,

These two months of "holidays" have been abounding in events. After a long battle in Parliament and outside of it, Radio Radicale has been saved. Its irreplaceable role of "public means of information" has been finally acknowledged by the Italian Parliament, with the passing of a special law that ensures its survival. The European Parliament has been strongly urged by the president of our federal council, who was able to collect, in spite of it being the summer holiday period, over one hundred signatures of members of the European Parliament for the summons of an extraordinary session of the Radical Party on the Gulf issue and the German unity, anticipated to the 3rd of October, amid the complete silence of all the European institutions. At the conclusion of the debate of the Italian Parliament on the Gulf issue, the Radical members of Parliament managed to obtain the integration of some extremely important amendments (on weapon trade, on oil supply, on the inter-governmental conference for the European unio

n, ...) in the majority's foreign policy motion. The new federal office of the Radical Party has been opened in Rome, with new possibilities and opportunities as regards the connection and cooperation with the different radical presences around the world.

Some extremely important, even if not always immediately perceivable points for the development and the growth of our party. This of course is not enough. Our commitment in the streets, in the squares, in the homes, in those countries where we are present, even if few, must now be potentiated. From Prague to Lisbon, from Rome to Moscow, the collection of signatures on the petitions enclosed in this issue of the Radical Letter must be increased. They are transnational petitions, in other words, instruments to achieve common goals, regardless of the fact that at times this or that goal have already been achieved in some countries. This issue of the Radical Letter contains those for the European union and for the abolition of the death penalty in all parts of the world. And, in the coming issue, the ones for the abolition of visas from the Atlantic to the Ural mountains, for the safeguard of our environment and for the acknowledgement of the right-duty to conscientious objection.

All this is also an invitation to all those who, from the Soviet Union to France, from Poland to Spain, have followed us in these months, but have not as yet joined the party. An invitation for them to do so now, for them to help us turn this embryo of a transnational, transpartisan and non-violent party into that instrument which we believe essential to face the great challenges of our time. From the constitution of the United States of Europe to the consolidation or the simple respect of Law and of Rights, from the safety of our planet to the life of those who live there today.

Wishing you all a profitable work,

Sergio Stanzani, First Secretary of the Radical Party

Paolo Vigevano, treasurer of the Radical Party