193

HUNDRED AND NINETY-THIRD SESSION OF THE COUNCIL

20-21 June 2019


 

RESTRICTED SESSION

 

DIRECTOR GENERAL’S REPORT

The Director-General gave an oral report on the following matters:

  • Environmental protection strategy and reporting
  • Stress management programme
  • Update on the Science Gateway project.

 

MEDIUM-TERM PLAN FOR THE PERIOD 2020-2024 AND DRAFT BUDGET OF THE ORGANIZATION FOR THE SIXTY-SIXTH FINANCIAL YEAR 2020
 

The Council approved the overall strategy for the reference period 2020-2024, as outlined in Chapter I of document CERN/SPC/1123/Rev.-CERN/FC/6333-CERN/3430 and elaborated upon in the Appendices (Chapter IV.1), and also approved the 2020 Draft Budget in 2019 prices set out in Chapter III of the document. The Council further took note of the resources plan for the years 2020 to 2024, set out in Chapter II of the document.

 

2020 BUDGET: SCALE OF CONTRIBUTIONS

The Council approved the percentage scale of contributions for 2020, set out in Table 1 of document CERN/FC/6334-CERN/3431, to be applied to the final Budget for 2020 in 2020 prices.

 

UPADATED CERN POLICY FOR FUNDRAISING FROM PRIVATE DONORS

The Council approved a proposal by the Management to update the CERN policy for fundraising from private donors, and took note of the revised ethical policy, approved by the Director-General, and of the revised articles of association of the CERN & Society Foundation.

 

PENSION FUND
 

a) Introduction to the Pension Fund and key figures

The Council took note of an oral presentation by the President on the role, organisational structure and resources of the Pension Fund, the applicable legal framework, the evolution of its assets, number of members and beneficiaries and the balance between contributions and benefits since the Fund’s creation in the 1950s, and the positive impact on the funding level of the package of measures adopted by the Council in 2010-2011 to ensure the Fund’s long-term sustainability. 

b) Report by the Chair of the Governing Board

The Council took note of a report by the Chair of the Pension Fund Governing Board, Dr Roth, on the activities of the Governing Board, the Actuarial and Technical Committee and the Investment Committee since his last report to the Council in March 2019.

c) Periodic Actuarial Review as at 1 January 2019

The Council took note of the periodic actuarial review of the Pension Fund as at 1 January 2019 and of a presentation by the Pension Fund’s consulting actuary, Mr Hurd, outlining the inter-valuation experience since the previous review at 1.1.2016, the impact of the updates to the best-estimate assumptions, and the key results based on those assumptions, namely a decrease of the funding level from 73.0% at 1.1.2016 to 67.8% at 1.1.2019, mainly as a result of changes to the discount rate and inflation assumptions, with the projected funding level at 1 January 2041 having decreased from 113.6% to 103.4% during the same period.

 

REVISION OF THE COUNCIL'S RULES OF PROCEDURE

The Council approved a revised version of its Rules of Procedure, for entry into force as of 1 July 2019.

 

 

CLOSED SESSION

 

ENLARGEMENT PROCESS

The Council heard a report by the Director-General on the status of the ongoing applications of Brazil, Croatia and Estonia, and on recent developments in CERN’s relations with the Russian Federation.
 

RESOLUTION ON THE COMPENSATION BY GREECE FOR ITS REDUCED MEMBER STATE CONTRIBUTIONS IN 2017, 2018, 2019

The Council adopted a Resolution on the compensation by Greece for its reduced Member State contributions in 2017, 2018, 2019.
 

APPOINTMENTS

The Council appointed Professor Umberto Dosselli (IT) Chair of the Finance Committee, for a first term of office of one year with effect from 1 January 2020.

The Council appointed Ms Charlotte Jamieson (UK) to be a member of the Pension Fund Governing Board for a first term of office of three years as of 1 November 2019, and subsequently decided to appoint her Chair of the PFGB from the same date.

 

OPEN SESSION

 

2018 ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT of CERN

The Council approved the 2018 Annual Progress Report set out in document CERN/SPC/1120/Rev.-CERN/FC/6309/Rev.-CERN/3412/Rev

 

2018 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF CERN

The Council approved the Financial Statements of CERN for the 2018 financial year set out in document CERN/FC/6325-CERN/3424 and granted discharge to the Director-General.

 

2018 ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE CERN PENSION FUND

The Council approved the Financial Statements of the CERN Pension Fund for the 2018 financial year set out in document CERN/FC/6328-CERN/3427 and granted discharge to the Chief Executive Officer.

 

UPDATE OF THE EUROPEAN STRATEGY FOR PARTICLE PHYSICS - REPORT ON THE OPEN SYMPOSIUM HELD IN GRANADA FROM 13 TO 16 MAY 2019

The Council took note of a report by the Strategy Secretary for the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, Professor Abramowicz, on the Open Symposium held in Granada from 13 to 16 May 2019, and expressed appreciation to the Spanish delegation and to the Spanish particle physics community for their flawless organisation of the event.

 

LHC MATTERS

The Council heard a report by the Director for Accelerators and Technology, Dr Bordry, on the ongoing LS2 activities at the Booster, the PS, the SPS and the LHC. It also took note of the EVM status of the LHC Injectors Upgrade (LIU) and High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) projects, namely earned values of 78% and 25% respectively, and voiced satisfaction with the progress of both projects and of the LS2 activities more generally.

The Council also heard a status report on the LHC experiments and computing by the Director for Research and Scientific Computing, Professor Elsen, covering the progress of the experiments’ Phase I upgrade activities during LS2, preparations for the Phase II upgrades, a selection of the latest physics results and the status of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid.

 

UPDATE ON ATTRACT

The Council heard a report by the Head of the Industry, Procurement and Knowledge Transfer department, Mr Lagrange, on the results, status and planned next steps of the ATTRACT programme for the development of detection and imaging technologies for fundamental frontier research in partnership with industry, young innovators and entrepreneurs.