Only one point I will comment on / answer Vittorio.. the reason for why reply now... I have called for the vote on this application to go ahead at its designated last date that is the 30th April... To allow the ALAC to vote under the new system of regional and local advice we require that advice so the vote can go ahead... CLO -----Original Message----- From: Vittorio Bertola [mailto:vb@bertola.eu] Sent: Monday, April 28, 2008 7:31 PM To: Wolf Ludwig Cc: Annette Mühlberg; Wolfgang Kleinwächter; Karen Banks; Jeanette Hofmann; Desiree Miloshevic; Sébastien Bachollet; William Drake; Veronica Cretu; Rudi Vansnick; Dr. Christoph Bruch; At-Large Staff; Cheryl Langdon-Orr; Discussion for At-Large Europe Subject: Re: Regional advice on France@Large application needed Wolf Ludwig ha scritto:
Dear all,
EURALO and its board is asked for opinion and advice on new ALS applications in its region. In previous cases our verifications didn’t show any difficulties or inconsistencies. Unfortunately in a recent one, the application from France @Large, we face some problems to come up with an unanimous recommendation.
Repeated and detailed verifications of France@Large’s application by the staff and some of the board members showed the following inconsistencies:
*the type of organisation and its membership is rather unclear. In the application form, some of the crucial questions (2 d-e) on the participation, role and influence of individual Internet users, are answered with “No”. In question 2 f-j it is stated that the applicant/ALS has “no organizations as members“ and „ governmental bodies or quasi-governmental bodies as members“ neither. That means that the organisational character of the applicant is not evident after repeated checks.
I'm not sure I understand. According to the English application that was posted to the EURALO list almost two months ago, in 2 d-e they say the exact opposite of what you report, they say that decisions are taken by their members. And in 2 e-f they say that they have no organizational members and no governmental members, which is a good thing. That's why we are asking those questions - to be sure that they are not controlled by companies or governments.
*the membership development,
*the exact activities and
*the financing/funding of the applicant.
Therefore the Co-Chair and other board members cannot support France@Large’s application under consideration of the given information. If there is no objection from other board and EURALO members -- with any further reasons to be considered -- we would like to recommend non-approval to ALAC.
I am a EURALO Board member, but this is the first time I am asked an opinion about this application. Can you explain me how and by whom this application was discussed, to come to the recommendation above? I remember the application being posted to the EURALO list, but I don't remember any comment there. Was there any request to all Board members or to the EURALO list for comments? If not, why not? In any case, I am forwarding this message to the list so that everyone is informed and we can have an open discussion. In general, we have to be very cautious about rejecting new applications, as it might look like a form of capture by the existing RALO members. I do not have a final opinion yet, but I have known Jefsey Morfin - the France@Large leader - for years, and even if he often has very controversial opinions, he exists and he has been participating to the At Large since the year 2000, which is more than can be said of several accredited ALSes. There should be a clear reason to reject this application, not just "we're not sure" or "we don't like him". That's a guarantee for a new Ombudsman case.
Please note that we need to know your opinion within the NEXT 2 DAYS.
Nothing has happened for two months, so why all this hurry now? Regards, -- vb. Vittorio Bertola - vb [a] bertola.eu <-------- --------> finally with a new website at http://bertola.eu/ <--------