In my view, we should only sign a new Concorde Agreement if it reinforces the authority of the FIA and deals properly with the major financial crisis which appears imminent in Formula One. Costs have gone out of control, income is insufficient and major manufacturers are in difficulty with their core businesses. Only with fair and realistic financial arrangements will we avoid losing more teams.

In addition to all this, we are negotiating a long term commercial agreement covering the World Rally Championship. This is of great importance to the financial well-being of the FIA and those of its member clubs which organise international rallies. We must also not forget that the new arrangements are likely to have major implications for the FIA's regional rally championships.

These negotiations are critical to the future of the FIA and will require another year or so before they are complete and ready for submission to the WMSC and the General Assembly.

I think it is also important to recognise that there has been struggle for control of Formula One that goes back to the original Concorde Agreement in 1981. More recently it involved the major car manufacturers threatening to launch a break-away series. During my period as FIA President the economics of Formula One have changed beyond all recognition. We are now dealing with a sport involving billions of dollars and interests that would like nothing better than to remove the FIA from the Championship entirely. I have been determined to fight for the rights and role of the FIA in Formula One and it is possibly for this reason that the media have been encouraged by those who have an interest in undermining my Presidency. I believe, therefore, that whatever the Extraordinary General Assembly decides, it should no reward those who have deliberately set out to destabilise the FIA at such a crucial time in its history.


Other issues – the major clubs

It will not have escaped your notice that certain major clubs on the mobility side have been very active in calling for me to step down and in seeking support for various hostile initiatives. Since the merger with the AIT in 2005, some of the major mobility clubs (AAA (USA), ADAC, etc) have expressed concern that the FIA was not serving their interests. The responses to the recent Communications Deparment Survey reveal a strongly negative attitude towards the FIA on the part of certain major clubs and some have already decided to be semi-detached from our organisation. For example, for several years now the AAA (USA) has not sent its staff to the various FIA working groups.

In parallel to their FIA membership, a number of major clubs have developed commercial structures such as ARC in Europe and Global Response at a world level. These organisations, whose membership is exclusive and self-selected, exist independently from the FIA although they sometimes meet alongside out meetings as ARC did at the recent FIA Region 1 meeting in Antwerp. These attitudes and developments have raised concerns about a possible de-merger or breakaway group of larger clubs.

So it is perhaps time for an honest and objective debate about the role of the major mobility clubs within the FIA. There is no doubt that, unlike the majority of smaller clubs, they do not need the FIA to support their core mobility business and they have little or no interest in motor sport.

They already use their commercial structures (ARC and Global Response) to promote international co-operation between themselves and are reluctant to support an increased role for the FAI in promoting reciprocity (mutual recognition of members) among clubs or in developing new member services. With Region 1, for example, there is reluctance on the part of ARC members to enhance the member services role of the FIA, as they do not wish us to develop products that might benefit fellow FIA clubs which are not members of ARC but offer competing services.

As a result it is only in the area of public policy that many of the major clubs seem willing to envisage a role for the FIA. However, even in this area some have apparently established their own public policy group, ignoring the structures agreed in the FIA Mobility Plan. This lack of transparency is a matter of concern, as the FIA has no way of knowing if commercial partnerships such as ARC and Global Response are influencing certain clubs' approach to the FIA's public policy agenda on issues like motor vehicle safety or environmental standards.

In fact over the last decade it is the sport that has contributed by far the largest amount of financial support for the FIA's efforts to promote road safety and the environment. The FIA now has a powerful reputation as an independent organisation willing to challenge the automotive industry on issues of great importance to the ordinary motorist such as crash test standards, electronic stability control, emissions and fuel economy.