A message from the president / Brief words from the editor-in-chief

Dear EMS members,

In my editorial to the last issue, a lot of important developments were promised for 2022, but then the Russian invasion into Ukraine, the massive killing of civilians, the bombing of Ukrainian cities and the attempt of Russia to overtake Ukraine have completely shattered a lot of the values and beliefs of a Europe in peaceful cooperation. After strong petitions of the EMS and others, the ICM was moved to a virtual format and the IMU general assembly was taken away from St. Petersburg. But the war is going on, people are dying, and a large part of Ukraine is destroyed. Even though there are many voices in Russia despising the war, the government propaganda and the oppression of free speech and protest have not yet led to an end to the war. In the last months, also the EMS has been flooded with calls for boycotts of all kinds, see also the letter on page 65, and the EMS executive committee has discussed different ways on how to react. We have decided to stop all cooperation with Russian governmental institutions, but to keep relations with Russian colleagues and mathematical societies.

The executive committee of the EMS discussed also to again postpone the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the EMS, but in the end we decided to go on with the celebration and we had a wonderful event in Edinburgh which included memorial talks for Sir Michael Francis Atiyah and a session on the mathematics of the pandemic. We will also proceed with the EMS council June 25 and 26 in Bled, Slovenia, and we look forward to seeing many representatives there.

We truly hope that this war comes to an end soon and that the rest of Europe supports Ukraine to overcome this terrible hardship.

Volker Mehrmann

President of the EMS

Dear readers of the EMS Magazine,

On the 24th of February Russian troops invaded Ukraine and started a war of aggression that, at the time of writing, still rages on with no end in sight. More than three quarters of a century after the end of World War II in Europe, and about a quarter of a century after the siege and bombing of Sarajevo by Serbian forces, or NATO aerial bombing campaign of Serbia and Montenegro, we witness again in horror the bombing of European cities and an unlawful war between European nations.

In these dark times it is crucial that, in parallel to lending support to the Ukrainian people, we do not lose sight of the fact that there will be an afterwar (hopefully sooner rather than later) and all the countries that now oppose each other on the battlefield or on the diplomatic or economic fronts will still be there and will still need to talk with each other if a secure and long-term peaceful future for all is to be achieved. I believe this healing and coming together will be easier to achieve in the future if we, as individuals, do not drift too much apart in the present.

In this context, the EMS Magazine will continue its policy of not discriminating against any individuals, be they authors, editors, readers, or any other class of collaborator, based on any general characteristics such as ethnicity or nationality.

Fernando Pestana da Costa

Editor-in-chief