Success and limits of the relativistic mean field description of nuclear properties

The talk presents the current status and the perspectives of the relativistic mean field (RMF) description of various nuclear properties. Some remarkable successful applications of RMF to several different class of nuclear properties are first sketched in a short list. Three selective applications of RMF to the: • Loosely bound nuclei • Anti-proton (p̄) annihilation • Spin observables (asymmetry parameter) in the parity-violating experiments with different motivations, are discussed in detail. The talk ends with a partial list of possible future directions.