2025-09-23 EURALO Round Table: Rethinking ICANN’s Legitimacy: Internal Politics, External Pressures (Part I)
Date: Tuesday, 23 September 2025
Time: 17:00 - 18:30 UTC For the time in various time zones click here
Web conference tool: Zoom
ZOOM REGISTRATION LINK:
Registration Link
https://icann.zoom.us/meeting/register/lxssgAJrTbyY2HlIfQgHzw
Participants:
EN, ES & FR: Anne-Marie Joly-Bachollet, Avri Doria, Aicha Abbad, Becky McGilley, Berry Cobb, Betty Fausta, Bill Jouris, Bisi Josh-Falade, Carlton Samuels, Charles Mok, Eduardo Diaz, Fatimata, Frederic Taes, Glen de Saint Gery, Gopal Tadepalli, Harold Arcos, Harsha Wijayawardhana, Michael Palage, Michel Tchonang Linze, Mohammad Atif Aleem, Natalia Filina, Natalie Tercova, Oksana Prykhodko, Olivier Crepin-LeBlond, Philippe Fouquart, Radu, Ricardo Holmquist, Sandra Hoferichter, Sebastien Bachollet, Simone Catania, Sivasubramanian Muthusamy, Tijani Ben Jemma, Yrjo Lansipuro
Apologies: Roberto Gaetano
Staff: Gisella Gruber, Brenda Brewer, Jessie Doherty
Interpreters ES: David, Veronica
Interpreters FR: Claire, Dominique
Call Management: Brenda Brewer
Zoom Recording: EN
Zoom Chat: EN:
Description:
Part I - This session begins with recent internal challenges—missed review deadlines, fragmented enforcement, Board deferrals, and community fatigue—that have put ICANN’s accountability under question. It then expands outward, asking how these internal dynamics shape ICANN’s credibility with governments, businesses, and civil society at a time when digital sovereignty, AI governance, and Internet fragmentation are redefining geopolitics. Panelists will unpack the interplay between ICANN’s internal politics (Board, SO/ACs, Empowered Community) and external legitimacy (governments, UN processes, WSIS+20), and explore practical ways to reinforce ICANN’s credibility as a trustworthy steward of the global Internet.
NOTE - Part II will be held during ICANN84 AGM in Dublin, on Tuesday, 28 October 2025 from 15h00-1600.
Part II - The session will begin with a short summary of Session 1. The moderator will then pose three framing questions—practical, political, and philosophical—on screen. These are not abstract debates but calls to action: what signals, reforms, or narratives can ICANN put forward in the next year to show the world it can self-correct and uphold its role as steward of the global Internet?
AGENDA:
Staff introduction and housekeeping (2 min)
Introduction - Pari Esfandiari, EURALO ALAC Member - Moderator (5 min)
Panel Discussion - All (40 min)
Moderator: Pari Esfandiari
Speakers: Michael Palage, Sébastien Bachollet, Olivier Crépin-Leblond, Philippe Fouquart
Open Discussion - All (30 min)
Closing Remarks - Pari Esfandiari & All (10min)
Conclusion- Sébastien Bachollet, EURALO Chair (3 min)