[DOF_power]

Max Mosley has reportedly refused a compromise deal that would see him handed a vote of confidence by the FIA in exchange for him stepping down as president.






Mosley faces a the FIA General Assembly next week where a vote of confidence will be taken as to whether he can remain as head of motorsport's governing body. Mosley's position is in question following the News of the World story exposing sed lurid details about the 68-year-old's private life.

However, some members of the world's motorsport federations would rather have Mosley step down as they fear the vote could have a negative impact no matter how it plays out.

"The World Council has unanimously agreed that we should avoid (a) vote of confidence at the Extraordinary General Assembly on 3 June, because if President Mosley would get no-confidence, it would mean disaster to him, and on the contrary, if President Mosley would get confidence, it would mean disaster to the FIA," Japanese Automobile Federation chief Setsuo Tanaka said in a letter seen by Autosport.

A compromise were therefore put before Mosley whereby he would receive a vote of confidence in next Tuesday's meeting in exchange for his promise to step down as president. Mosley, however, refused the deal.

In a letter to members of the World Council, FIA Deputy President Luccesi explained: "The compromise would have implied a renewed and unanimous confidence declaration towards President Mosley, together with a written communication from the President himself announcing his intention to resign starting from November 2008.

"The President would have left almost all public representation of the FIA to the two Deputy Presidents. This compromise would have prevented us from being divided on a confidence vote that the WCAM&T members esteemed to be negative in any case.

"Though acknowledging the worries expressed and the proposed solution, President Mosley reiterated his intention of requesting a confidence vote for reasons already summarised in the recent letter he sent to all the FIA Club Presidents. We could do nothing but take note of his determination."

The General Assembly vote of confidence will go ahead in Paris as planned on June 3rd.



'Mosley turns down the FIA's compromise deal' - Planet-F1 News - from planet-f1.com

[DOF_power]

Big FIA clubs demand that Mosley quit




Twenty-four FIA clubs in 22 countries have signed a letter to FIA President Max Mosley in response to his recent letter to the FIA club presidents. The clubs involved represent around 85% of the total membership of the FIA, based on motorist members, but they control only around 25% of the votes at the General Assembly. The letter demands that Mosley give "an immediate agreement" to step down.
"The FIA is in a critical situation," it says. "Its image, reputation and credibility are being severely eroded. Every additional day that this situation persists, the damage increases. There is no way back."
The signatories regret Mosley's decision not to accept the compromise put forward by the members of the World Mobility Council, and his decision to remain in office until the end of his term, "in spite of the severe damage being inflicted to the FIA".
The letter implies that Mosley is "putting personal considerations before the interests of the FIA and its member clubs".
The signatories go on to say that there is no divergence of interests between the clubs as Mosley suggested in his letter and argue that Bernie Ecclestone's response gives a better indication of the true state of play between the governing body and F1's commercial rights holders than does the crisis scenario described in Mosley's letter.
"We take note of the letter sent by B. Ecclestone to all member clubs, stating his support for the FIA as the sole body governing international motor sport and his willingness to continue working with the FIA, irrespective of the result of the Extraordinary General Assembly on June 3rd," the clubs say. "We believe that his explanations put in due perspective the state of the relationship between the FIA and the Formula 1 world, taking away relevance to many of the arguments you make in your letter to justify your continuity. We take note of his point on the importance that the FIA be led by a credible and respected president."
The idea of a war between Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone is clearly not being treated as credible by the clubs and may even be working against Mosley, because it is now being interpreted as an attempt to manipulate the membership to vote for him.
"We strongly believe that the only respectable way forward for the FIA, and for yourself, is to have an orderly transition, with an immediate agreement and your commitment to step down."
The letter is signed by representatives of the AAA and AATA from the United States, Germany's ADAC, Japan's JAF, Canada's CAA, Brazil's CCB, the KNAC of the Netherlands, Sweden's M, Hungary's MAK, Israel's MEMSI, the Austrian club OEMTC, Spain's RACC and RACE, Belgium's TCB, the Swiss TCS, Singapore's AAS, Finland's AL, Denmark's FDM, France's FFA and India's FIAA. These are largely mobility clubs, although some also have votes for the sporting power as well. What is significant is that a number of other clubs that have come out publicly against Mosley in recent weeks are not signatories to the letter, notably New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
They were either not asked to sign or decided to keep their own counsel until the General Assembly.
There is no question that the primary motivation amongst FIA members next week will be fear. Some clubs are worried about their own vested interests, others about not being on the winning side. Others are worried that the vote could destroy the FIA and lead to the creation of a parallel organisation or that the federation would survive as a unit, but would lose its legitimacy.
While Mosley has played up the threats to the FIA and claimed he is only man to fight them; his rivals are now beginning to argue that he could ruin the entire organisation if he does not step down.
These thoughts are not being vocalised to any great extent, particularly not in the letter, but Gilles Gaignault, a former FIA spokesman who went on to own the GBDA Formula 3000 team (now DAMS), has been arguing on www.gentlemendrivers-mag.com that there is a disaster scenario ahead.
In an article headlined "Is Max Mosley going to destroy the FIA?" Gaignault argues that Mosley, "deprived of all credibility, has still not learned the lessons of the situation and persists in wanting to obtain a vote of confidence." He goes on to say that the birth of a new parallel federation would destroy 104 years of building up the FIA simply because of the obstinate behaviour "of a man who no matter what happens, can no longer do his job".
Clearly, the pressure is building and by going public the clubs are obviously trying to give smaller clubs the confidence to vote with them to remove Mosley from office.
Mosley in the meantime continues with his legal moves in an effort to get rulings to back up his arguments that the articles published about him were an invasion or privacy and defamatory.
He may win these cases, but for the FIA membership this may no longer seem to be very important.

[Bob Tanner]

As we say over here in the colonies, "This is getting really, really fugly!"

[DOF_power]

And you ain't seen nothing yet.
Worst case scenario if the split happens there will be a war between the FIA, CVC and the new organization for the control of the cash cow (F1).
The FIA will not survive (the split and) the loss of the F1 money as they really can't keep afloat without them.

[Racer Duck]

so here's a prime example of the many (the members of the world's automotive organizations plus a few entities standing on high moral ground) having so few votes and the few (the rest of the entities who are FIA members) having so many votes, deciding on the fate of a person (Mosley) who, on the one hand doesn't represent the views of the many, but instead caters to the few (rich) supporters, while the prize (the cash cow F1) is distancing itself from that person's supporters, but not really embracing the few who oppose him.

that brings up a question: can F1 survive without FIA or another, similar governing organization? and what are the ramifications of such a situation?

[DOF_power]

"can F1 survive without FIA or another, similar governing organization? and what are the ramifications of such a situation?"


That's the worst case scenario and the multi billion dollar question.