208

TWO-HUNDRED-AND-EIGHTH SESSION OF THE COUNCIL

16-17 June 2022

RESTRICTED COUNCIL

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

The President reported on the meetings and events he had attended since the March Session, including the Council’s working groups on governance and on the procedure for the selection of the Director-General, a meeting of early-career researchers (ECRs) at the University of Birmingham, which he had initiated, the Scientific Policy Committee, the Tripartite Employment Conditions Forum (TREF), the Audit Committee and the Pension Fund Governing Board (PFGB). During the Future Circular Collider (FCC) week in Paris from 30 May to 3 June, he had delivered a keynote talk, attended an ECR session that he had convened and attended a meeting of the FCC Feasibility Study Steering Committee as an observer. He had also had meetings with many Member State delegates in preparation for the decisions to be taken by the Council in June on CERN’s cooperation with the Russian Federation, Belarus and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR).

 

DIRECTOR-GENERAL’S REPORT

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

  • First-stone ceremony for the new data centre in Prévessin on 22 April 2022
  • FCC week in Paris from 30 May to 3 June 2022
  • Inauguration of the Science Gateway
  • Recent protocol visits

 

MEDIUM-TERM PLAN FOR THE PERIOD 2023-2027 AND DRAFT BUDGET OF THE ORGANIZATION FOR THE SIXTY-NINTH FINANCIAL YEAR 2023

The Council heard a presentation by the Director-General of the draft Medium-Term (MTP) for the period 2023–2027, the draft 2023 Budget, the ten-year outlook and the main changes compared to the previous year’s MTP, primarily due to the new LS3 schedule, the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the market volatility and increased cost of electricity and raw materials. With a view to the final MTP to be submitted for approval at the September Session, the Council invited the Management to develop alternative scenarios for indexation other than application of the full cost-variation index in 2023, plus scenarios for savings and descoping illustrating the potential impact on physics, together with a strategy to find possible ways of maintaining a regulated electricity tariff mechanism after 2025. The Council also took note of remarks by the President to the effect that Europe was no stranger to periods of great uncertainty, and calling on all parties to adopt an innovative and flexible approach to solving the current and future problems in the interests of keeping CERN at the forefront of world science.

 

2023 SCALE OF CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE MEMBER AND ASSOCIATE MEMBER STATES

The Council approved the scale of contributions for 2023, as set out in document  CERN/FC/6587-CERN/3666, shown as percentages to be applied to the final 2023 Budget in 2023 prices, thereby confirming the correctness of the calculation.

2021 FIVE-YEARLY REVIEW OF THE FINANCIAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF MEMBERS OF THE PERSONNEL - REVIEW OF ANNEX A1 OF THE STAFF RULES AND REGULATIONS

On the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the Council approved the Management’s proposal to close the 2021 five-yearly review without introducing any modifications to Annex A 1 of the Staff Rules and Regulations.

 

        Proposal for a revision of CERN's graduate programmes

The Council took note of document CERN/FC/6577- CERN/3647 and of a presentation by the Director for Finance and Human Resources, Mr Bello, explaining the rationale for the proposed revision of the graduate programme, the detailed changes involved and the resulting modifications to the Staff Rules and Regulations required to accommodate the proposed introduction of a new category of employed members of the personnel. On the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the Council approved the resulting amendments to the Staff Rules and took note that, predicated on the aforementioned approval, the Finance Committee had approved the corresponding amendments to the Staff Regulations.

        REVISION OF THE STAFF RULES AND REGULATIONS, FRENCH VERSION ONLY: EDITORIAL CHANGES

The Council took note of editorial changes made to the French version of the Staff Rules and Regulations in order to incorporate gender-inclusive language, as set out in document CERN/FC/6581-CERN/3651.

 

         ACCELERATORS, EXPERIMENTS AND COMPUTING

The Council heard various presentations by the Director for Accelerators and Computing, Dr Lamont, and by the Director for Research and Computing, Professor Mnich, on:

  • the status of the accelerator complex, including developments at the AD/ELENA facility, the start-up of physics at the injectors, the status of dipole training in the various LHC sectors, the good progress of beam commissioning in the LHC following completion of an extensive powering and test campaign, and the current scrubbing campaign to mitigate electron cloud;
  • the latest LHC physics highlights, the readiness of the experiments and the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid for Run 3, the plans of ALICE and LHCb for future upgrades, the progress of activities relating to the FASER(nu) and SND@LHC experiments, and the roll-out of the new experiment associates (EXAS) sub-category of associated members of the personnel;
  • the Phase-2 upgrades of the ATLAS and CMS experiments, notably the progress of detector component development work, and the positive impact of the new schedule agreed at the start of 2022;
  • the status of the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) project, covering a selection of activities under several work packages, notably the Nb3Sn inner triplet magnets, as well as the project’s earned-value management status, and the status of procurement under the difficult prevailing market conditions;
  • the status and objectives of the NA64, NA65 and CLOUD experiments, progress in the construction of the ProtoDUNE detectors at the CERN Neutrino Platform and recent developments with respect to the Quantum Technology Initiative; and
  • the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine across CERN’s accelerator, experiment and computing activities.

The Council congratulated all the teams involved in the work on the accelerator complex, the experiments and computing on the progress achieved.

 

ROADMAPS FOR ACCELERATOR R&D AND DETECTOR R&D – IMPLEMENTATION PLANS

The Council heard presentations by the Chair of the Large Particle Physics Laboratory Directors Group (LDG), Professor Newbold, and by the Chair of the European Committee for Future Accelerators (ECFA), Professor Jakobs, on progress towards the development of  prioritised implementation plans for the accelerator R&D and detector R&D roadmaps respectively, and agreed that it would be desirable for the proposed organisational structures to be set up immediately to allow concrete R&D plans to be produced and presented later in the year.

CERN Pension Fund

The Council heard a report by Mr Malmberg, Chair of the PFGB, notably communicating the Fund’s performance figures as at 30 April 2022, namely a one-year performance of +0.61%, a five-year annualised performance of +4.88% and a year-to-date performance of -4.26%.

The Council also heard a presentation by the Pension Fund’s consulting actuary of the results of the 2022 periodic actuarial review, showing that the funding level according to the new best-estimate assumptions had increased from 67.8% at 1 January 2019 to 77.1% at 1 January 2022, while the projected funding level at 1 January 2041 had decreased from 103.4% to 97.1% during the same period, mainly owing to the adoption of a lower future investment return rate, and was projected to be 114.4% at 1 January 2052.

 

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FURTHER ACTION RELATING TO THE RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE

The Council reiterated its denunciation of the continuing illegal military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation with the involvement of the Republic of Belarus, which had resulted in a widespread humanitarian crisis and significant loss of life. It recalled that the core values of the Organization had always been based upon scientific collaboration across borders as a driver for peace, and stressed that the aggression of one country against another ran counter to those values.

Following extensive discussion and a series of votes, the Council adopted four separate  Resolutions: in the first, the Council decided to grant Ukraine’s request for the second instalment of its 2022 contribution to be waived, and that the Member States would cover the resulting shortfall by increasing their 2022 contributions in proportion to their share of the CERN budget; in the second and third Resolutions it stated its intention to terminate the international cooperation agreements (ICAs) with the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, respectively, at their expiration dates in 2024 noting, however, that it would continue to monitor the situation carefully and stood ready to take any further decision in the light of developments in Ukraine; in the fourth Resolution, the Council decided to review CERN’s future cooperation with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) well in advance of the date on which notice of termination of the current ICA in January 2025 must be given.

 

APPOINTMENT OF A NEW CHAIR AND A NEW VICE-CHAIR OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE

The Council appointed Dr Laurent Salzarulo (Switzerland) as Chair of the Finance Committee, and Dr Mathias Hamberg (Sweden) as Vice-Chair, for first terms of office of one year with effect from 1 January 2023.

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CERN ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 2021

The Council approved the Annual Progress Report of CERN for 2021, as set out in document CERN/SPC/1174/Rev.-CERN/FC/6551/Rev.-CERN/3624/Rev.

 

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF CERN FOR 2021

On the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the Council approved the Financial Statements of CERN for the 2021 financial year, as set out in document CERN/FC/6572-CERN/3641, and granted discharge to the Director-General.

 

ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE CERN PENSION FUND FOR 2021

On the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the Council approved the Annual Report and Financial Statements of the CERN Pension Fund for the 2021 financial year, as set out in document CERN/FC/6574-CERN/3643, and granted discharge to the Chief Executive Officer.

The Council further expressed appreciation to Ms Laurila and the whole external audit team from the National Audit Office of Finland for their diligence in conducting the audits of the 2021 Annual Reports and Financial Statements of both CERN and its Pension Fund, a task that had been complicated once again in 2021 by the health, safety and travel restrictions in force owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

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