HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIRST SESSION OF COUNCIL
15-16 December 2011
RESTRICTED SESSION
MEMBER STATE MATTERS
The Council took note of the report by the Director-General on ongoing preparations for the long LHC shutdown (LS1) in 2013-2014 and of his statement that CERN would welcome the participation of teams of specialist workers from the Member States, in particular mechanics and TIG welders, for the duration of the long shutdown, estimated at 20 months.
LHC PROGRESS REPORT
The Council took note of oral reports by the Director-General, the Chairman of the Scientific Policy Committee, Professor Zwirner, the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Dr Jacobsen, the Spokesperson of the ATLAS experiment, Professor F. Gianotti, and the Spokesperson elect of the CMS experiment, Professor J. Incandella.
The Council congratulated the CERN Management and all those involved in CERN’s scientific programme on the outstanding performances of the LHC machine, its injectors and CERN’s other experimental facilities, on the results from the LHC experiments and other experiments and on the performance of the LCG computing Grid during 2011 and, further expressed appreciation for the Management’s highly successful, cautious communications policy which had resulted in measured reporting of provisional results in the media, particularly with regard to the Higgs search and the neutrino velocity measurement.
The Council further took note of a suggestion by the Portuguese delegation for CERN to organise a meeting, in 2012 or 2013, bringing together the industrial partners involved in the development of the LHC to discuss and demonstrate the general impact of innovation on industry and society.
PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE 11TH EDITION OF THE STAFF RULES AND REGULATIONS
The Council unanimously decided to approve the amendment to Article S I 1.04 of the Staff Rules and Regulations, set out in document CERN/FC/5575-CERN/2992, with a view to entry into force on 1 January 2012.
The Council further took note that, at its meeting the previous day, the Finance Committee had approved the amendments to Articles R II 5.01, R A 2.01, R A 2.02 and Annex R A 11 set out in the document, with a view to entry into force on 1 January 2012.
THE COST-VARIATION INDEX FOR 2012
The Council took note of document CERN/FC/5577-CERN/2994 and, on the recommendation of the Finance Committee and taking into account the correction to the first footnote in Annex C indicated by the President, decided to approve:
- an overall cost-variation index for the personnel budget of 0.02%, consisting of a basic salary and stipend adjustment of 0%; a family allowances and other expenses index of 0% and a home-leave index of 5.56%;
- a materials budget cost-variation index of -2.43%;
- an overall cost-variation index of -1.18% and
- 0.0% indexation of Member States’ contributions in line with the Council decision of June 2009.
2012 BUDGET SCALE OF CONTRIBUTIONS
The Council unanimously decided to approve the scale of contributions for 2012 set out in Table 1 of document CERN/FC/5576-CERN/2993.
The Council took note that the new methodology for calculating the scale of contributions approved on 17 December 2009 (CERN/FC/5383-CERN/2876) based on the simple average NNIs for the years n-4 to n-2 plus corresponding exchange rates, would be used for the first time in 2012 for the calculation of the 2013 scale of contributions.
FINAL BUDGET OF THE ORGANIZATION FOR THE FIFTY-EIGHTH FINANCIAL YEAR 2012
The Council took note of the final budget of the Organization for the financial year 2012, set out in document CERN/FC/5578-CERN/2995.
CERN PENSION FUND
Amendments to the CERN Pension Fund Rules
The Council unanimously decided to approve the amendments to the Rules of the CERN Pension Fund, as set out in the Annex of document CERN/FC/5579-CERN/3000, for entry into force on 1 January 2012.
CLOSED SESSION
REPORT ON APPLICANT STATES
- Update on the three remaining applications for Membership and on expressions of interest by other non-Member State
The Council took note of the Director-General’s status report concerning progress towards accession to Associate Membership of Cyprus, Slovenia and Turkey and on his recent contacts with Brazil and Croatia.
- Council Resolution concerning the Admission of the Republic of Serbia as Associate Member State in the pre-stage to Membership at CERN
The Council decided, by consensus, to adopt the Resolution set out set out in document CERN/2999/RA admitting Serbia as an Associate Member State in the pre-stage to Membership, subject to the signature and entry into force of the Agreement annexed to the Resolution.
ELECTIONS
SCIENTIFIC POLICY COMMITTEE
- Re-election of the Chairman of the Scientific Policy Committee
The Council unanimously re-elected Professor F. Zwirner Chairman of the Scientific Policy Committee for a period of one year with effect from 1 January 2012.
- Appointment of new two members and re-appointment of four members
The Council unanimously decided:
- to appoint Professors F. Le Diberder and T. Rodrigo as new members for a period of three years with effect from 1 January 2012, and
- to re-appoint Professors M. Diemoz, R.K. Ellis, C. Spiering and K. Tokushuku as members for a second period of three years with effect from 1 January 2012.
COUNCIL AND FINANCE COMMITTEE:
- Re-election of the President of Council
The Council unanimously re-elected Professor M. Spiro President of the Council for a third and final period of one year with effect from 1 January 2012.
- Re-election of One Vice-President of Council
On the proposal of the PRESIDENT, seconded by the Danish delegation, the Council unanimously re-elected Professor D-O. Riska Vice-President of the Council for a third and final period of one year with effect from 1 January 2012.
- Re-election of One Vice-President of Council
On the proposal of the PRESIDENT, seconded by the French delegation, the Council unanimously re-elected Professor R. Wade Vice-President of the Council for a second period of one year with effect from 1 January 2012.
- Re-election of the Chairman of the Finance Committee
On the proposal of the PRESIDENT, seconded by the Finnish delegation, the Council unanimously re-elected Dr B. Jacobsen Chairman of the Finance Committee for a second period of one year with effect from 1 January 2012.
- Re-election of the Vice-Chairman of the Finance Committee
On the proposal of the PRESIDENT, seconded by the Polish delegation, the Council unanimously re-elected Dr B. Vizkelety Vice-Chairman of the Finance Committee for a second period of one year with effect from 1 January 2012.
- Election of the Chairman of TREF
The Council unanimously elected Mr B. Dormy Chairman of TREF for a period of three years with effect from 1 January 2012.
Finally, the Council agreed to adopt an accelerated procedure for the election of the new Vice-Chairman of TREF as a replacement for the outgoing incumbent, Mr Dormy, and, to that end, to invite delegations to send nominations and CVs to the Council Secretariat with a view to the election of the new Vice-Chairman of TREF at the March 2012 Closed Session.
EUROPEAN STRATEGY MATTERS - EXAMINATION OF PROPOSALS FOR HOSTING
- Open Symposium 2012, 9 -13 September 2012
The Council unanimously decided to organise the Open Symposium from 9-13 September 2012 in the framework of the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics in Cracow, Poland.
OPEN SESSION
STATUS OF THE LHC AND EXPERIMENTS
The Council took note of the presentations by V. Kain (LHC accelerator), H. Niewiadomski (TOTEM), L. Bonechi (LHCf), G. Cowan (LHCb), D. Dobur (CMS), I. Riu (ATLAS) and Y. Pachmayer (ALICE).
The Council thanked the speakers and congratulated all the teams concerned on the outstanding performance of the LHC machine, experiments and computing grid during 2011 and on the exciting results obtained.
REPORT ON THE DECISIONS TAKEN AT THE RESTRICTED, CLOSED AND EUROPEAN STRATEGY SESSIONS
The Council took note of the report by the President of Council, Professor Spiro, on the decisions taken at the Restricted, Closed and European Strategy Sessions held in September and December 2011.
REPORT BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE
The Council took note of the report by the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Dr Jacobsen, on the matters discussed at the Committee's September and December 2011 meetings.
REPORT BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SCIENTIFIC POLICY COMMITTEE
The Council took note of the report by the Chairman of the Scientific Policy Committee, Professor Zwirner, on the Committee’s activities in 2011.
REPORT BY THE SCIENTIFIC SECRETARY
The Council took note of the report by the Scientific Secretary, Professor Nakada, on the framework, timeframe and status of preparations for the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics.
REPORT BY THE CHAIRMAN OF ECFA
The Council took note of the report by the Chairman of ECFA, Professor Nakada, on the activities of Plenary and Restricted ECFA during 2011 and the planned schedule of meetings for 2012.
The Council further took note that Professor Nakada, who had served as Chairman of ECFA since 1st August 2009, would be succeeded by M. Krammer with effect from 1st January 2012 and expressed appreciation for his contributions to the Council's discussions during his term of office.