TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-EIGHTH SESSION OF THE COUNCIL
25-26 June 2026
OPEN COUNCIL
CERN ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 2025
On the recommendation of the Scientific Policy Committee (SPC) and the Finance Committee, the Council approved the Annual Progress Report of CERN for 2025, as set out in document CERN/SPC/1279/Rev.-CERN/FC/6989/Rev.-CERN/3980/Rev. and its appendices.
2025 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF CERN
On the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the Council approved the Financial Statements of CERN for the 2025 financial year, as set out in document CERN/FC/7008-CERN/3992, and granted discharge to the Director-General.
2025 ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE CERN PENSION FUND
On the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the Council approved the Financial Statements of the CERN Pension Fund for the 2025 financial year, as set out in document CERN/FC/7010-CERN/3994, and granted discharge to the Chief Executive Officer.
RESTRICTED COUNCIL
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
The President reported that, since the Council’s meeting in March, he had attended two meetings of the Pension Fund Governing Board (PFGB), one of the Tripartite Employment Conditions Forum (TREF) and one of the Audit Committee. He had also attended the first two days of the annual FCC week in Helsinki, Finland, at which he had presented and discussed the Council Resolution on the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics. The event had been a great success and he wished to commend the Finnish delegation for the excellent organisation and hospitality. In order to prepare the Council's position on the future governance model of the FCC-ee, which had been recommended as CERN's next flagship project in the European Strategy for Particle Physics, he was pleased to announce that a Council retreat was being organised in Tallinn, Estonia, in February 2027.
DIRECTOR-GENERAL’S REPORT
The Director-General reported on the following subjects:
- LHC and HL-LHC updates,
- High-level meetings during the FCC week in Helsinki,
- Public consultation exercises in France and Switzerland regarding the FCC,
- Draft updated timeline for the FCC,
- Communication and outreach,
- Renaming of CERN roads,
- Enhanced support for Associated Members of the Personnel,
- Recent Protocol visits.
CERN strategy and objectives for 2026–2030
The Council approved the Management’s proposed high-level strategy and objectives for CERN for the coming five years, as set out in document CERN/SPC/1283/RA/Rev.2 CERN/3983/RA/Rev.2.
MEDIUM-TERM PLAN FOR THE PERIOD 2027-2031 AND DRAFT BUDGET OF THE ORGANIZATION FOR THE SEVENTY-THIRD FINANCIAL YEAR 2027
The Council heard a presentation by the Director-General of the Medium-Term Plan and the draft Budget for 2027, as set out in document CERN/SPC/1287/Rev.-CERN/FC/7007/Rev.-CERN/4002, outlining the scientific and financial strategy for the period 2027–2031, the Draft Budget for 2027 and the ten-year outlook, explaining the strategic drivers, priorities and principles on which the document was based, the financial planning process and the main Budget components. On the recommendation of the Scientific Policy Committee and the Finance Committee, the Council approved the 2027 draft Budget in 2026 prices and the overall strategy for the reference period, and further took note of the resources plan for the years 2027 to 2031.
2027 Scale of Contributions by the Member and Associate Member States
On the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the Council approved the scale of contributions for 2027, as set out in document CERN/FC/7016-CERN/4003, shown as percentages to be applied to the final 2027 Budget in 2027 prices, thereby confirming the correctness of the calculation.
LHC and HL-LHC MATTERS
The Council heard a presentation by the Director for Accelerators and Technology,
Dr Brüning, on the status of the accelerator complex and upgrades, covering the availability of the various links of the accelerator chain in 2026, the achievements of the 2026 LHC run, the evolution of integrated luminosity since Run 1, the progress of the final tests and checks before the third long shutdown (LS3), the dashboards drawn up to monitor the progress of the LS3 work, the status of magnet production, the progress of the IT String powering and quench tests, the status of the LS3 readiness checks and the follow-up with the AWAKE Collaboration on the prospects for a restart of the experiment following completion of the LS3 activities.
The Council then heard a presentation by the Director for Research and Computing, Professor Hamel de Monchenault, on the status of the LHC experiments and computing, covering the excellent performance of the 2026 data taking campaign in both the proton-proton and the lead-lead modes, highlights of the physics results of the ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb experiments, the latest news on plans for the Phase 2b upgrades of ALICE and LHCb, the ongoing efforts to remedy the problems encountered with the bPOL12V DCDC converter chips, information on the additional limited-duration posts allocated in the MTP to keep the detector projects on schedule, the challenges faced by the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid and the status of the Next-Generation Triggers project.
NON-LHC EXPERIMENTS
The Council heard a second presentation by Professor Hamel de Monchenault, on the non-LHC experiments, covering the non-collider physics roadmap, the approval by the CERN Research Board of the NA60+/DICE experiment, recent measurements on antihydrogen taken by the ALPHA experiment, the result of the CLOUD experiment relating to a new source of marine aerosols, and theory developments for the FCC-ee.
The Council congratulated CERN, its personnel and members of the experiment collaborations on the excellent performance of the 2026 data-taking campaign, on the significant progress made towards the High-Luminosity LHC across the accelerator and detectors, and on the achievements of the non-LHC experiments.
FCC ORGANISATION
The Council gave feedback to the Director-General on the proposed organisational structure and review process for the FCC Reference Design Phase, as well as the arrangements for the management of the project within CERN.
FCC objectives and deliverables
The Council approved the objectives, scope and deliverables of the FCC Reference Design Phase and, in so doing, approved the Reference Design Phase itself.
CERN PENSION FUND
Report by the Chair of the Pension Fund Governing Board
The Council heard a presentation by Dr Buzatu, in his capacity as Chair of the PFGB, covering the key issues discussed by the Board at its meetings in April and June 2026, the latest member and beneficiary statistics, the current macroeconomic context and investment market outlook and the Fund’s recent investment performance, namely a nominal return of +0.08% in the first quarter of 2026 and a strong recovery during the second quarter to date.
The Council further took note of Dr Buzatu's progress report on the PFGB's review of the plan to reach full funding, on which the Board intended to submit its report to the Finance Committee and the Council in September.
Proposed amendments to factors and parameters in the Rules and Regulations of the Pension Fund and editorial changes to the Rules of the Pension Fund relating to inclusive language and minor linguistic amendments
The Council heard a presentation by the Chief Executive Officer of the Pension Fund,
Mr Heron, explaining the rationale for the proposed change in the Rule relating to the young spouse reduction factors, and approved the corresponding amendments to the Rules of the Pension Fund concerning the factors applicable to the reduction of the pension for surviving spouse (Article II 5.07), for entry into force on 1 January 2027, as set out in document CERN/FC/7017/RA CERN/4005/RA.
The Council further took note of editorial changes that had been made to the Rules of the Pension Fund relating to inclusive language as well as some minor linguistic amendments, as set out in document CERN/FC/7018/RA CERN/4006/RA.
2027 FIVE-YEARLY REVIEW OF THE FINANCIAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF MEMBERS OF THE PERSONNEL
The Council approved the financial and social conditions to be reviewed for staff members, graduates and associated members of the personnel in the framework of the 2027 five-yearly review.
REVISION OF THE 11TH EDITION OF THE STAFF RULES AND REGULATIONS: MATERNITY AND REMUNERATED PARENTAL LEAVE
The Council took note of the information set out in document CERN/FC/7024-CERN/4012, of the presentation by the Director for Finance and Human Resources,
Mr Brouwer, and, on the recommendation of the Finance Committee, approved the proposed amendments to the Staff Rules and Regulations relating to maternity leave and paternity/co-parent leave, as set out in the annex to the document.
The Council further took note that the new provisions would enter into force on
1 July 2026, with retroactive application for births on or after 1 January 2026 provided that the member of the personnel’s contract had started by the date of the birth.
CLOSED COUNCIL
AMENDMENTS TO THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN CERN AND THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS CONCERNING THE GRANTING OF THE STATUS OF ASSOCIATE MEMBER STATE OF CERN
The Council approved a set of proposed amendments to the Agreement between CERN and the Republic of Cyprus concerning the granting of the status of Associate Member State of CERN and authorised the Director-General to sign the resulting exchange of letters.
DESIGNATION OF ONE MEMBER OF THE SPC MEMBERSHIP SELECTION COMMITTEE
The Council decided to update the composition of the SPC Membership Selection Committee.
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