TWO-HUNDRED-AND-SEVENTEENTH SESSION OF THE COUNCIL
20-21 June 2024
RESTRICTED COUNCIL
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
The President reported that, since the Council Session in March 2024, he had attended meetings of CERN’s statutory governance bodies, welcomed four former Council Presidents to a special meeting hosted by himself and the Director-General at CERN in April, visited China’s Institute of High-Energy Physics (IHEP) at the invitation of its Director, Professor Y. Wang, and attended and given a talk at the Future Circular Collider (FCC) week in San Francisco in June.
DIRECTOR-GENERAL’S REPORT
The Director-General reported on the following subjects:
- FCC week and FCC-related developments in the United States
- Update on the CERN Science Gateway
- Listing of LEP/LHC tunnel as one of the world’s most iconic tunnels
- Protocol visits in 2024.
MEDIUM-TERM PLAN FOR THE PERIOD 2025-2029 AND DRAFT BUDGET OF THE ORGANIZATION FOR THE SEVENTY-FIRST FINANCIAL YEAR 2025
The Council heard a presentation by the Director-General of the Medium-Term Plan and the draft Budget for 2025, as set out in document CERN/SPC/1236/Rev.-CERN/FC/6812/Rev.- CERN/3829, in which she recalled the main pillars and priorities of the scientific programme and the Budget components, outlined the scientific and financial strategy for the period 2025–2029 and the ten-year outlook, and summarised the specific objectives and timeline of the FCC Feasibility Study and the pre-TDR phase. On the recommendation of the Scientific Policy Committee and the Finance Committee, the Council approved the 2025 draft Budget in 2024 prices and the overall strategy for the reference period, on the understanding that a specific decision would be taken on the FCC pre-TDR phase in due course. The Council further took note of the resources plan for the years 2025 to 2029.
2025 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 2025, as set out in document CERN/FC/6823-CERN/3828, shown as percentages to be applied to the final 2025 Budget in 2025 prices, thereby confirming the correctness of the calculation.
REVISION OF THE FINANCIAL RULES – PROCUREMENT RULES
The Council took note of document CERN/FC/6786/Rev.-CERN/3830 and of a presentation by the Director for Finance and Human Resources, Mr Bello, and, on the recommendation of the Finance Committee, approved the proposed amendments to the CERN Financial Rules, primarily to the CERN Procurement Rules set out in Annex 1 of the Regulations for the implementation of the CERN Financial Rules, for immediate entry into force.
PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE 11TH EDITION OF THE STAFF REGULATIONS: MEDICAL EXAMINATION PRIOR TO TAKING UP APPOINTMENT
The Council heard a presentation by the Director for Finance and Human Resources, Mr Bello, of the proposed amendment to Article R II 1.08 a) of the Staff Regulations relating to the medical examination prior to taking up an appointment, as set out in document CERN/FC/6819-CERN/3827, and, on the recommendation of the Finance Committee, approved the proposed amendment for entry into force on 1 July 2024.
CERN PENSION FUND
The Council heard a presentation by Dr Buzatu, in his capacity as Chair of the Pension Fund Governing Board (PFGB), notably underlining the Fund’s investment performance as at 31 March 2024, namely a +2.67% nominal return, 1.24% ahead of the best-estimate real rate of return with inflation of 0.76%, and a five-year annualised performance of +3.09%.
HL-LHC MATTERS
The Council heard a presentation by the Director for Accelerators and Technology,
Dr Lamont, on the status of the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) project, covering the project timeline, the inner triplet string preparation work in SM18, and the progress made on the cold powering system and helium storage at Points 1 and 5 and concluding that, although much remained to be done in the coming months and years, the project was on track for installation during Long Shutdown 3.
The Council then heard a presentation by the Director for Research and Computing, Professor Mnich, outlining the latest developments in the Phase 2 upgrades of ATLAS and CMS, presenting the risk assessment for the most critical subsystems that had been compiled at the request of the Finance Committee, and concluding that, although both projects continued to make good progress, technical problems had resulted in additional delays, eliminating the contingency on certain critical subsystems, and that, as a consequence, significant schedule risks remained.
LHC MATTERS
The Council received an update from Dr Lamont on the status of the accelerator complex, covering the availability of the various links of the accelerator chain in 2024 so far, the 2024 LHC running schedule, the integrated luminosity achieved and the updated luminosity target for the current year, and the preparations for Long Shutdown 3.
Professor Mnich then gave a presentation on the status of the experiments and computing, covering highlights of the latest physics results from the LHC experiments, their smooth data taking, the very good computing performance during the 2024 LHC run so far, developments with respect to the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, the computing hardware challenges for the HL-LHC era, and the progress of work at the CERN Neutrino Platform.
REVISED TIMETABLE FOR COUNCIL SESSIONS AND COMMITTEE MEETINGS IN 2025
The Council approved the revised timetable for Council sessions and committee meetings in 2025, as set out in document CERN/3777/Rev.
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closed COUNCIL
Review of the International Cooperation Agreement (ICA) between CERN and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR)
The Council decided not to terminate the International Cooperation Agreement between CERN and JINR at its expiry date of 27 January 2025.
UPDATE OF THE EUROPEAN STRATEGY FOR PARTICLE PHYSICS: REMIT OF THE EUROPEAN STRATEGY GROUP
On the recommendation of the Scientific Policy Committee, the Council decided to approve the remit of the European Strategy Group, as set out in document CERN/SPC/1239/RA/Rev. CERN/3834/C/Rev.
ELECTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS
a) Finance Committee
• Appointment of the Vice-Chair
The Council appointed Ms Veronica Buccheri (Italy) as Vice-Chair of the Finance Committee for a first term of office of one year with effect from 1 July 2024.
b) Council
• Re-election of one Vice-President of the Council
The Council re-elected Professor Konstantinos Fountas (Greece) as Vice-President of the Council for a third and final term of office of one year with effect from 1 July 2024.
c) Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics
• Appointment of the Strategy Secretary and establishment of the Strategy Secretariat
The Council appointed Professor Karl Jakobs (Germany) as Strategy Secretary for the next update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, and thus established the Strategy Secretariat as follows:
- Professor Karl Jakobs, Strategy Secretary, Chair
- Dr Hugh Montgomery, Chair of the Scientific Policy Committee (SPC)*
- Professor Paris Sphicas, Chair of the European Committee for Future Accelerators (ECFA)*
- Professor David Newbold, Chair of the Large Particle Physics Laboratory Directors Group (LDG)*.
* Ex officio members
• Composition and establishment of the European Strategy Group
The Council approved the establishment of the European Strategy Group on the basis of the composition set out in document CERN/3840/C.
SPC MEMBERSHIP SELECTION COMMITTEE: REPLACEMENT OF ONE SPC-DESIGNATED MEMBER
The Council updated the composition of the SPC Membership Selection Committee as proposed in document CERN/3783/C/Rev.2.
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OPEN COUNCIL
CERN ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 2023
On the recommendation of the Scientific Policy Committee and the Finance Committee, the Council approved the Annual Progress Report of CERN for 2023, as set out in document CERN/SPC/1231/Rev.-CERN/FC/6780/Rev.-CERN/3801/Rev.
2023 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF CERN
On the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the Council approved the Financial Statements of CERN for the 2023 financial year, as set out in document CERN/FC/6815-CERN/3822, and granted discharge to the Director-General.
2023 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 2023 financial year, as set out in document CERN/FC/6817-CERN/3824, and granted discharge to the Chief Executive Officer.
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