Mosley rejected compromise deal in April

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Details of an attempt by FIA members to reach a deal with scandal-hit president Max Mosley emerged tonight.

According to the FIA Deputy President for Automobile, Mobility and Tourism Franco Lucchesi he and “almost all” the members of the World Council for the Autmobile Mobility and Tourism agreed to the offer. Under the terms of the deal Mosley would receive a declaration of confidence in exchange for an agreement to resign in November, and for him to delegate “almost all public representation of the FIA to the two deputy presidents”.

Mosley apparently turned this offer down at the beginning of this month. He has maintained he intends to step down in 2009 and begun his court action against the News of the World. You can read Lucchesi’s letter in full below.

Federation International de l’Automobile

Distribution: All titular members of the World Council for Automobile Mobility and Tourism
26 May 2008

Dear Friends,

Before the Extraordinary General Assembly of June 3, I feel I owe you a report on what happened after the World Council for the Automobile Mobility & Tourism of April 23 concerning the President Mosley issue.

Although the subject had not been added to the agenda, following my proposal it was however discussed by the World Council members, who informally met at the end of the official session. My opinion was accepted according to which, considering the executive tasks of the Council as well as the absence of the person concerned, neither a debate on the matter, nor an official decision would have been suitable.

At the conclusion or a responsible and smooth exchange of views, the members attending the meeting entrusted the Region I President Werner Kraus and me to inform Max of the ideas shared by almost all attendees and to seek with him a compromise between these ideas and Max’s intention not to step down. 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.

Werner Kraus and I met President Mosley in early May. On that occasion, 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 letter he sent to all the FIA club presidents. We could do nothing but take note of his determination.

I have deemed it advisable to report back to you about these facts, in order to give you a clearer view of an issue which will involve all of us at the next Extraordinary General Assembly.

I thank you for your kind attention and remain,

Yours sincerely,

[signature]

Franco Lucchesi
Deputy President, Automobile Mobility and Tourism

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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18 comments on “Mosley rejected compromise deal in April”

  1. has this been poorly translated?, I ask because of the spelling errors.

    or quickly typed?

    anyway I need a hobby that isn’t F1 related.

    I might start watching Football, the worst thing that happens in football is that they have sex with loads of hookers.

    oh wait…

  2. Re-typed – I’ve just had a scan through and hopefully got the typos.

  3. cool cheers Keith.

    where did you find this out?.

  4. More on the clubs asking Mosley to resign here

    Jonathan Noble sums up the state of play ahead of next week’s meeting:

    Although the letter sheds light on the level of dissatisfaction with the FIA, it is believed there are still enough clubs willing to back Mosley at next week’s vote to make it likely that he will receive the support of the majority to continue in his role until his term ends in October 2009.

    However, the ultimate aim of this latest letter may not be to convince Mosley to step down but to make clear to the wavering voters that there is enough feeling against Mosley for him to lose the vote.

  5. so its basically for the undecided voters of the clubs.

  6. You got it, Sush. The way it’s looking now, this will be as contentious as Florida 2000.

    I think we’re in for a close result either way. I’m looking at anywhere between a 51%-49% to a 55%-45% split. It’s going to be mighty close.

  7. I still find it odd that FIA voting for clubs is strictly ONE CLUB ONE VOTE, so the AAA only get one vote!? as does the 2 guys in Rhodesia.

    how on earth he can win when his publicist is also Heather mills publicist i’ll never know.

  8. William Wilgus
    29th May 2008, 15:14

    To me, Max’s rejection of the offer indicates that he’s in it for the glory & prestige as much as anything else.

  9. So are we heading to a point where the President of the FIA does not have the support of the Manufacturers and Teams but does have the support of the various Racing Clubs? Has anybody reported the views of the likes of WTCC, DTM and GT Racing teams on this? (Remember the FIA is not just about F1)
    In which case, will this be the point where Bernie,Jean Todt,Flavio Briatore and VJ Mallya arrive like the cavalry at the last minute and say ‘we are here now, problem solved’?
    And when (not if) Mad Max wins his court case, it will be hard on those who ever doubted him….

  10. Regardless of whether or not Max wins that case, it’s beside the point. He dragged the name of F1 through the mud and it’s done too much damage to the F1 name. And he’ll still get pushed out anyway. Winning the case would just be a matter of too little, too late.

  11. if he quits the FIA, he loses the court case.

    if he stays on through a vote of confidence, hi wins the court case.

  12. just had an epiphany, has any of us written to the FIA in disgust over his antics?, if not I think we all should do that.

    the letter should include the following “to whom it may concern”
    “that prat”
    “V8’s?”
    “show me on this doll, where the Mosley touched you”
    “you’re all gonna tyre, thanks for all the slicks”

    and
    “sincerely”
    just so they know we mean business.

  13. how certain are we that mosely really intends(intended)to step down in 2009? i can see him turning this down just to have it all his way, but, nov ’08, nov ’09- there just isn’t that much difference-unless he was thinking all along that he might just hang on past ’09.

  14. Mosley has not damaged the F1 name, nobody knows him.

    This story makes a lot of noise in the UK because he is a Brit, and his father was a pro-nazi, but what about in other parts of the world?

    I am not supporting Mosley but i believe the whole story is just crap. So what? the guy likes whores and whips? the internet is packed with that kind of material! (and the real world too!) has he done anything illegal? In this case there are Courts. He is sued by anybody?

    This is obviously a power struggle within the FIA and it stinks! I’m sick talking about it, but ashamed by what I can read, who are you to judge a man?
    I do not understand how the tape was legally displayed on the internet. This is a private matter and I am surprised that in this country (one of the best democraties in the world, and I am not a Brit…) you can display private images – that are no proof of anything illegal- without ending up in Court!
    This is a brit affair. The guy is a brit, so is the paper, so is the noise around it…

    Amazingly enough I have not read the name of the MSA (the British Motoring Sporting Association – FIA member) in the signatures of the letter. So my dear friends may be you should resign from the MSA and write them a letter to express your displeasure ;-)

    Now if you ask for my opinion I believe he should have left the FIA, but that is another story. I am not in favour of mob killing that is (even not) good for Iran and certainly not for Western Europe….

    Please do not over-react to this post. It is an opinion, my opinion. It was not intended to hurt of offend anybody, nor to start a flame.

  15. *starts foaming at the mouth*

    writing to them was MY idea!

  16. You’ve got a bunch of good stuff on there Sush..

    Either way, Max appears on his way out before 2010- It’s clearly a matter of him wanting to go out on a good note. Even if he gets the vote of confidence, I think he’s still got his reputation marked, and the best way to help it along would have been to step down and acknowlege the situation, then pursue his leagl matters against the News of the World on his own time. But, as has been the case all along, he’ll go down fighting to the last apparently.

  17. I do agree with Ago. This is a world full of hypocrisy.

    Having said this is a brits matter, and some romours that some heads of states have shown their uncomfortableness of meeting with Max, they did not have that feeling with Vladimir Putin, known criminal engaged time ago with the colombian cartel and most likely responsible of the death of Sasha Litvidenco in London, G.W. Bush known lier and you know…, the list is big and you can put a name as you like to.

    What does this tiny matter has to do with the real problems in the world?, human rights, starvation, the dictatorship of the state of law, Birmania, Sierra Leona, China, terrorism, Somalia, poverty and so on.

    Dont be naive, this is ****** nothing, just a drop in the sea. Do you know that hard core is the most visited pages in internet and it moves more money that my country can manage to get through?.

    If I have to bet, I would bet a lot of money in Berni´s and I´m sure I would make easy money. I think the only decent people on this bisness are the drivers, but I would not bet on them yet.

  18. Hi Gman : “His reputation marked?”
    What do you think?
    The guy is 70+ you think he cares about his reputation? Do you think he plans a new carier ? lol It’s an old man getting the kicks he can the way he likes… if it doesn’t hurt anybody I don’t care. I’m not interested in the sex kife of Max and I will certainly not judge anybody’s sex life, and I don’t want mine to be judged either… He might be dead before his bad reputation hits him back… Let’s be serious 5min… the french call that “a storm in a glass of water” bet you’ve got the meaning of this. But what I know for sure is that there are some people around that would love sitting in Max’s office in Paris… And I’m not sure these sharks are not even dirtier… Are you?
    Oh I see… you can do what you want but don’t get caught hey?

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