[Euro-board] Coming up to a New Year
Mikhail Medrish
medrish at fondpi.ru
Thu Jan 14 10:14:02 UTC 2016
Dear Olivier, dear colleagues.
Sorry for a delay with response to Olivier’s question about my plans as a
member of the Board. To formulate a substantial response I had to study
some amount of documents and notes concerning the EURALO.
So, my considerations.
1. First of all, I believe that we are to have the only one plan of
actions for a year period of time with tasks, dates and
persons/responsibilities. It is absolutely what Jordi wrote "so we can set
a plan and define owners, deliverables and datelines". I think to have the
plan of actions or even the goals for two years period of time in current
situation is unreasonable.
2. As for me I suggest for consideration some goals that follow from
the EURALO’s purpose and scope mentioned in the MoU with ICANN:
· to minimize the potential negative consequences for end-users from
IANA stewardship transition;
· to increase the attractiveness of EURALO for its members,
potential ALS and individual users through increasing the level of
transparency of the EURALO’s activities and decision making;
· to become more multilingual;
· to become more oriented to the human rights.
In my opinion, the main tasks for the first goal are the following:
· - monitoring of the transformation processes in ICANN in the
context of IANA stewardship transition and
· - if necessary, elaboration of corresponding proposals, aimed at
protecting the end-users interests and rights
Within the second goal the main task is the adoption of new EURALO
statutory documents. The real life of EURALO is far from what is written in
the “Articles of Association”. (A list of some significant contradictions
is given lower.) This mismatch between the “Articles of Association” and
the real life is one of the factors that interfere with the process of
EURALO’s enlargement, outreach and inreach, cause risks and the internal
problems for the organization.
I suggest adopting two new documents. One should contain the basic
information about the organization, its goals and objectives, governing
bodies with their rights and duties and basic procedures of election. The
second document – Rules of Procedure – should describe EURALO’s procedures.
It should be noted that such document is specified by the current Bylaw
(paragraph 9.1. Articles of Association) but is still missing. It’s obvious
that mentioned documents should be written taking into account the changes
in ICANN in connection with IANA stewardship transition.
As for the third goal I guess we are to use more than one English language
on our site and in the documents. At least Bylaw and key documents and
decisions should be published in several languages.
Within the framework of the fourth goal, we can delegate our representative
to the working party on human rights in order at least to be in touch with
the process.
Conclusion. The primary objective for the nearest future is to develop
mentioned plan of actions. I believe this work should be headed by our
Chair.
All the best.
Mikhail Medrish
P.S.
Some contradictions between bylaw and real lives of the EURALO.
A. Euro Individuals Association established in 2012 still not
institutionalized in the EURALO Bylaw.
- The Statute of Euro Individuals Association says that «By the creation of
its Association, individuals from all over Europe can gather and assume a
voting right at EURALO’s annual General Assembly (GA), as stipulated in
EURALO’s amended Bylaws from May 2011 in Belgrade.» Although the question
of changing EURALO Bylaw was discussed in Belgrade no changes were made.
- The paragraph 3 of the Statutes Euro Individuals Association says that
«Financial resources In order to fulfill its role in the frame of EURALO,
the Euro Individuals Association can count on resources and capacities of
EURALO such as its Secretariat and does not need own financial resources
and administrative facilities.» There are no corresponding obligations in
the EURALO’s Bylaw. This raises the problem of the resources’ use.
B. Governing bodies, EURALO officers and their functions do not
correspond to the real life
- In reality the General Assembly of EURALO elects the Chairman of the
EURALO. The Articles of Association does not provide for such position
- The Articles of Association says that in its Board has a Chairman and a
Deputy Chairman. In reality there are no such officers and their functions
are performed by the EURALO’s Chair and the Secretary. In particular,
according to the Articles of Association the Chair of the Board is EURALO’s
representative everywhere .
- The Statute does not provide for a Secretary as one of the EURALO
officers.
- The Statute provides for a position of a Treasurer that was never elected
in practice because of absence of necessity.
- The Statute provides for Advisory Council, which has never existed.
C. Procedures set forth in the Articles of Association do not always
correspond to the practice (paragraphs 9.3, 9.7). There is still no Rules
of Procedure which should be adopted by the Board (paragraph 9.1. of the
Articles of Association).
D. The section 7 of the Articles of Association defines the
possibility of periodical and extraordinary membership fees the amount
of which determines the General Assembly. These regulaions are still
not put into action. I know from my experience that even the existence
of such possibilities in Bylaw can be a deterrent for potential ALSes
on joining EURALO.
2015-12-28 12:39 GMT+03:00 Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <ocl at gih.com>:
> Dear EURALO Board members,
>
> as 2015 is quickly arriving to a close, I wanted to briefly let you know
> of what my own goals are for EURALO in 2016:
>
>
> 1. outreach and inreach
> We need to reach out and actively look for new potential At-Large
> Structures to join us, especially in countries which do not yet have a
> local At-Large Structure. This something which we should all be looking
> out for, in the contacts of the people that we know, in the conferences
> we all attend, at EuroDIG etc.
> As for inreach, also known as "engagement", I am well aware that the
> majority of our ALSes are not particularly active in EURALO. Let's make
> this environment both more exciting, pertinent to our ALSes and
> valuable. I am saying "valuable" because I think we'll be fighting an
> already lost battle if our ALSes do not think there is any value in
> participating in EURALO and At-Large activities.
>
> 2. Skillsets
> This ties in with what Yrjö was saying: we need to know our ALSes much
> more. Only if we know our ALSes better will we be able to specifically
> call upon specific ALSes when a particular topic of discussion or public
> comment request arrives on our table. So I support what Yrjö suggests
> that EURALO takes it upon itelf to devise a mechanism for getting this
> information.
>
> 3. Linking the ALAC to our ALSes
> This really is a communications exercise. We have 3 ALAC members:
> - Sébastien Bachollet
> - Sandra Höferichter
> - Jimmy Schultz
>
> The RALO should be there as a full partner to our three ALAC members.
> They are not just individuals - they are an important channel to ICANN
> to voice our concerns. They are part of our community. I hope that we
> will be able to strengthen the link from the ALAC to the RALO.
>
> These are just three personal goals. I know there are a lot more issues
> in EURALO, but I thought I'd start with the first three. I hope we'll be
> able to go further than these three goals and be able to pursue other
> goals that you are sharing with us.
>
> Again, I am really excited to be able to work with you. I hope we will
> be able to be proactive throughout the year and bring that much needed
> energy to our EURALO members, to make EURALO inviting, exciting and
> effective.
>
> Hoping you've had a good Christmas and are still enjoying a well earned
> holiday break, I wish you all the Best for a Happy New Year 2016!
>
> Olivier
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