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

The talk presents the current status and the perspectives of the relativist ic mean field (RMF) description of various nuclear properties. Some remarka ble successful applications of RMF to several different class of nuclear pr operties are first sketched in a short list. Three selective applications o f RMF to the: Loosely bound nuclei Anti-proton ((p) over bar) annihilation Spin observables (asymmetry parameter) in the parity-violating experiments with different motivations, are discussed in detail. The talk ends with a p artial list of possible future directions.