154

HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOURTH SESSION OF COUNCIL

RESTRICTED and CLOSED SESSIONS

18 MARCH 2010

 

RESTRICTED SESSION
18 March 2010

 

LHC PROGRESS REPORT

The Council took note of the presentations by the Director-General, the Director for Accelerators and Technology, Dr Myers, and the Director for Research and Scientific Computing, Professor Bertolucci, and of the oral reports by the Chairman of the Scientific Policy Committee, Professor Fernandez, and the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Dr Steinacher.

The Council congratulated the CERN Management and all those concerned on the good progress being achieved in all fields towards the restart of the LHC and first collisions at 3.5 TeV per beam in 2010.

 

WORKING GROUP ON THE SCIENTIFIC AND GEOGRAPHICAL ENLARGEMENT OF CERN OF CERN

- Global Accelerators Projects and their Governance

The Council decided, by consensus, to approve the following proposals:

1) CERN is prepared to join partners in discussions about new governance structures for future global accelerator projects.

2) In particular, CERN is prepared to provide an institutional framework within which a “Project Governing Board” could direct a global accelerator project.

3) As a prototype implementation of such an institutional framework for a global accelerator project, CERN should explore a governance structure for future upgrades of the LHC.

4) CERN is willing to consider hosting a future global accelerator project, if it is deemed to be in the interest of the Organization and the global particle physics community.

5) In the case of a future global accelerator project hosted elsewhere, CERN is willing to coordinate broad European participation.

- Scientific Enlargement of the CERN Programme

The Council asked for a last amendment in the document and agreed that the amended document should be re-submitted for approval at the June 2010 Session, before further work on this issue is referred to European Strategy sessions.

- Geographical Enlargement

Noting that still several issues remained to be clarified, the Council expressed appreciation to the Working Group and the Preparatory Group for their work to date, endorsed the general principles set out in the White Paper as a sound basis for a formal proposal to be submitted in June 2010 and invited delegations, in the meantime, to address any further suggestions for drafting amendments to the members of the Working Group.

 

ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT

The Council took note of the information set out in the annual progress report document and expressed appreciation to the Management for the quality of the document.

PENSION FUND

a) Report by the Pension Fund Governing Board on funding principles and policy and measures to restore full funding of the CERN Pension Fund

The Council took note of the information set out in the document.

b) Pension Fund Deficit Analysis of Structural Causes

The Council took note of the information set out in the document.

c) Response to the Finance Committee’s Question on Deficit Funding Practices at Other International Organizations

The Council took note of the preliminary information.

d) Report from the Advisory Group to Council (Oral)

The Council took note of the oral report.

e) Further discussion

The Council took note of the preliminary statements and exchange of views on possible remedies to the Pension Fund deficit and agreed on the following general principles and work plan:

1) Action must be taken now to prevent further deterioration of the Pension Fund’s funding status, immediately followed by measures whose ultimate objective is full funding of pension liabilities.

2) The Advisory Group, in consultation with the CERN Management and the Pension Fund Governing Board, should pursue work on its preliminary considerations, taking into account the input provided by the Council, with a view to presenting a balanced package of measures by June 2010 aimed at stabilising the financial situation of the Fund.

3) In addition, the Advisory Group should explore the possibility of new pension arrangements for staff recruited from 1 January 2011 onwards, (which in the long term should by themselves lead to restore full funding of pension liabilities), together with possible transition measures.

In summary, the Council aims for establishing a package of measures designed to stabilise the Fund’s financial position immediately and, in the long term, to restore full funding, with a view to implementation from 1 January 2011.

 

INFORMATION ON THE MEDIUM –TERM PLAN FOR THE PERIOD 2011-2015

The Council took note of the oral report by the Director-General on the overall framework and boundary conditions for the Medium-Term Plan for the period 2011-2015 and beyond.

 

REPORT TO COUNCIL BY THE SPC PANEL ON FUTURE NEUTRINO FACILITIES

The Council took note of the information set out in the document and of the oral presentation by the Chairman of the Scientific Policy Committee.

 

 

CLOSED SESSION

 

 

COMPOSITION OF THE SACA

The Council took note of the presentation by Dr Steinacher in his capacity as Chairman of the Standing Advisory Committee on Audits and unanimously decided to appoint:

- Dr K. Jaros (external expert, Austria)

- Dr J-C. López (external expert, Spain)

- Mr P. Williams (CERN Council representative, United Kingdom)

members of the SACA for a period of three years starting, with retroactive effect, on 1 January 2010.

 

RE-APPOINTMENTS TO THE GOVERNING BOARD OF THE PENSION FUND

The Council took note of the information set out in document CERN/2900/RA and, on the recommendation of the Pension Fund Governing Board, unanimously decided to re-appoint Professors F. Ferrini and D.-O. Riska members of the PFGB and Mr J-A. Schneider professional member of the PFGB for second terms of office of three years as of 1 November 2010.

 

SENIOR STAFF APPOINTMENT BY THE DIRECTOR GENERAL

The Council unanimously decided to approve the early termination of the mandate of Dr V. Vuillemin as Head of the Engineering Department on 30 June 2010 and the appointment of Dr R. Saban as Head of the Engineering Department for the period from 1 July 2010 to 31 December 2013.