RE: [ICANN-EU] RE: Welcome to icann-europe

[R.Gaetano@iaea.org]

Good evening.

It seems that the questions arrive at a higher rate than it's possible to
answer :<( - I still owe an answer to the initial question by Alexander.

Anyway,

> 
> Could you please elaborate on the duties and rights the GA chair
> has?  Is this just some kind of an impartial moderator who
> coordinates things, or are you exercising influence on DNSO's
> decisions, possibly including director nominations?
> 

The GA Chair is formally an impartial moderator, whose duty is to ensure
that rules are respected, and some work is produced.
However, the Chair has also a role of link between the GA Membership and the
Name Council. The Chair reports to the NC about the state of the GA, the
Chair gets involved in the work of the committees when a representative of
the GA is needed (there are two of these currently alive), the Chair brings
the issues and motions of the GA to the attention of the higher instances.

BTW, this is exactly what, IMHO, the AtLarge Director shall do vs. the
Regional membership: be instrumental in organizing the debate(s), make sure
that the issues are brought forward (and upward to the Board), be pro-active
in the activities of the Membership (all to be thought about in the future).
If the AtLarge Directors fail to do this, we will ahve the situation in
which the Membership is just called every now and then to elect people that
remain without any link to the electing body.

Specifically about Director nominations, if you are speaking about the
AtLarge Directors there is no influence at all, about the DNSO Director
(that is nominated by the GA and elected by the NC) you may think of an
influence, just because if the Chairman sends a message and sais: "Please
endorse nomination of XYZ" you may expect some members to follow the
suggestion.
But this may happen also with other very active members of the assembly.

For the record, there is an election ongoing for a DNSO-elected Director,
and I have not nominated anybody, nor endorsed any candidature, nor
expressed any POV on any candidate, neither publicly nor privately.
(which does not mean I don't have an opinion, just that I do not think fair
to express it)


> How compatible are a post as the DNSO GA chair on the one hand and
> an @large director's seat on the other?  (I could imagine concerns
> from both sides, and I suppose this question is not unexpected. ;-)
> 

Absolutely incompatible.
Not only in ethic terms, but also in the quantity of work that will be
required for the poor [wo]man who might fall in this situation.
If this question implies the other: "Would you resign from GA Chair if
elected to the Board", the answer is "Yes, immediately".

Regards
Roberto