HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-NINTH SESSION OF THE COUNCIL
14-15 June 2018
RESTRICTED SESSION
DIRECTOR GENERAL’S REPORT
The Director-General gave an oral report on the following matters:
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Update on alumni activities
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Indico system adopted by the United Nations
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Recent protocol visits
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Progress with the Science Gateway project
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN CERN AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
The Council approved the conclusion of a Cooperation Agreement with the Government of the Russian Federation, set out in the annex to document CERN/3366/RA.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN CERN AND THE KINGDOM OF THAILAND
The Council approved the conclusion of a Cooperation Agreement with the Kingdom of Thailand, set out in the annex to document CERN/3367/RA.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN CERN AND THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
The Council approved the conclusion of a Cooperation Agreement with the Republic of the Philippines, set out in the annex to document CERN/3368/RA.
FUNDRAISING- GRANT OFFERED BY THE UK SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FACILITIES COUNCIL
The Council approved a grant offered by the United Kingdom’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) in support of the Non-Member State Summer Student Programme within the framework of the CERN & Society programme
OUTCOME OF THE LIU AND HL-LHC COST AND SCHEDULE REVIEW AND STATUS OF THE ACCELERATORS AND EXPERIMENTS
The Council heard reports by the Director for Accelerators and Technology, Dr Bordry, on the outcome of the third cost and schedule review of the LIU and HL-LHC projects, on the projects’ latest technical developments and earned value management (EVM) status, on the status of the LHC machine and injectors, including the rapid intensity ramp-up of the LHC and the evolution of the peak and integrated luminosity since the start of Run 1.
The Council heard a status report on the LHC experiments and computing by the Director for Research and Scientific Computing, Professor Elsen, including highlights of the latest physics results and the progress of the experiments’ Phase I upgrades and preparations for the Phase II upgrades.
The Council expressed satisfaction with the excellent performance of the LHC machine, injector chain and experiments and encouraged the Management and all the personnel involved to keep up the good work.
MEDIUM-TERM PLAN FOR THE PERIOD 2019-2023 AND DRAFT BUDGET OF THE ORGANIZATION FOR THE SIXTY-FIFTH FINANCIAL YEAR 2019
The Council approved the overall strategy for the reference period as outlined in Chapter I of document CERN/SPC/1107-CERN/FC/6232-CERN/3362 and elaborated upon in the Appendices (Chapter IV.1), together with the 2019 Draft Budget in 2018 prices set out in Chapter III. The Council further took note of the Resources plan for the years 2019 to 2023, set out in Chapter II of the document.
In that context, the Council expressed appreciation to the Management for its efforts to balance competing priorities within the available budget, to achieve savings wherever possible, and to contain the cumulative budget deficit.
2019 BUDGET: SCALE OF CONTRIBUTIONS
The Council approved the percentage scale of contributions for 2019, set out in Table 1 of document CERN/FC/6233-CERN/3363, to be applied to the final Budget for 2019 in 2019 prices.
PENSION FUND
The Council heard 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 2018.
DATA PRIVACY PROTECTION
The Council took note of a report by CERN’s Data Privacy Protection Officer, Dr Foster, on the measures being taken to bring CERN into line with new data privacy protection requirements, and invited the Management to provide regular reports on the progress being made towards implementation.
EUROPEAN STRATEGY MATTERS
The Council took note of a document provided for information, entitled “Preparation plan for European participation in the International Linear Collider”, by the coordinator of the Europe-Japan Accelerator Development Exchange Programme (E-JADE), Professor Stapnes.
CLOSED SESSION
ENLARGEMENT PROCESS
The Council decided to set up a working group to review certain aspects of the geographical enlargement policy of 2010, and approved the working group’s mandate, composition and work schedule, with the first meeting to be held on 4 September.
ELECTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS
The Council:
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re-elected Professor Jens-Jørgen Gaardhøje (Denmark) Vice-President of the Council, for a third period of one year with effect from 1 July 2018;
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elected Ms Sarah Verth (United Kingdom) Vice-Chair of the Tripartite Employment Conditions Forum (TREF) for an initial period of three years, with effect from 1 July 2018;
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extended the appointment of Dr Frédérick Bordry as Director for Accelerators and Technology for the period 18 July 2019 to 31 December 2020, and his contract of employment for the same period.
REPORT BY THE CHAIR OF THE WORKING GROUP ON PENSION FUND GOVERNANCE
The Council took note of the report by the Working Group on the Governance of the CERN Pension Fund set out in document CERN/3349/RA/Rev. and approved the proposed amendments to the Pension Fund Rules set out in Annex II of the document, for entry into force with immediate effect, on the understanding that, in the event that provisions of the revised Chapter I of the Pension Fund Rules should contradict provisions of the existing Pension Fund Regulations, the newly approved provisions in the Rules would prevail pending revision of the Regulations concerned. The Council thanked Mr Pardo for his diligence in steering the Working Group’s deliberations towards a successful conclusion and invited him to extend its appreciation to all members of the Working Group. The Council, acknowledging that the Working Group had fulfilled its mandate, agreed that it should be dissolved forthwith.
UPDATE OF THE EUROPEAN STRATEGY FOR PARTICLE PHYSICS
The Council decided, by consensus, to select Granada, Spain, as the venue for the Open Symposium to be held from 13 to 16 May 2019, and Bad Honnef, Germany, as the venue for the Strategy Drafting Session to be held from 20 to 24 January 2020.
OPEN SESSION
2017 ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT OF CERN
The Council unanimously approved the Annual Progress Report 2017, as set out in document CERN/SPC/1102/Rev.-CERN/FC/6206/Rev.-CERN/3345/Rev.
2017 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF CERN
The Council unanimously approved the 2017 Financial Statements of CERN set out in document CERN/FC/6225-CERN/3356 and granted discharge to the Director-General.
2017 ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE CERN PENSION FUND
The Council approved the 2017 Annual Report and Financial Statements of the CERN Pension Fund, set out in document CERN/FC/6228-CERN/3359 and granted discharge to the Pension Fund Governing Board.
The Council expressed its deep appreciation to Mr Kurzyca and his team from the Polish Supreme Audit institution (NIK) for their consummate professionalism and dedication over the five years of their mandate as External Auditors of the Organization, and heard a statement by the President of NIK, Mr Kwiatkowski, expressing his appreciation and thanks for the fruitful collaboration of the CERN Management and staff over the five years of NIK’s term of office.
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