News outlet insidethegames.biz is reporting that a proposed FINA amendment submitted by the FINA Executive Bureau is apparently on the table as part of the upcoming Extraordinary Congress session to be held in Kazan, Russian this upcoming July.
According to the news piece, the proposal would delete the maximum age rule of elected FINA members, including the role of President. Current rules state that the “maximum age of elected Bureau members ‘must be no more than eighty (80) years in the year of the election to the FINA Bureau.”
Incumbent FINA President, Julio Maglione, is currently serving his second term, which runs until 2017, at which point he will be 81. Should the new rule be adopted, Maglione would be able to potentially run for a third and final term as head of FINA until the year 2021.
An additional proposal cited by insidethegames.biz is the amendment for a “creation of a powerful new post of first vice-president.” The duties of this new role would include “representing FINA in the absence of the President at ‘activities requiring the presence of the highest FINA authority.” The proposal indicates that the new role would be filled via election by the Extraordinary Congress in Kazan “from among the five [existing] vice presidents.”
Interestingly, the article points out that Maglione’s age limit for full IOC membership will be reached on November 14th, thus raising the question of “whether the first vice-president would be the natural representative of the FINA President on IOC matters from next year.” Additionally, the first vice president would “fully” replace the position of FINA honorary secretary.
Finally, the piece reads that, among other proposed changes, “the FINA Executive Committee would be expanded from five to eight members via inclusion of all Vice Presidents.” A byproduct of this change would be the responsibility of “negotiation or overseeing the negotiation of all major contracts on behalf of FINA in consultation with the members of the Executive” shifting to current FINA Executive Director Cornel Marculescu.
More to follow when details become available.