A few weeks before the passing of Franck Biancheri, and without suspecting the seriousness of his condition, I had the opportunity to discuss with him the stabilizing role that could be played in the evolution of the global world by the convergence of scientific and technological developments within the entity whose construction he had always fought for, namely that which consists of the nations of Europe as well as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. Shortly afterwards he sent me a message cancelling a planned appointment, for health reasons, he told me with his characteristic discretion…