TWO-HUNDRED AND THIRD SESSION OF THE COUNCIL
17-18 June 2021
RESTRICTED COUNCIL - 17-18 June 2021
DIRECTOR GENERAL’S REPORT
The Director-General gave an oral report on the following matters:
- CERN and COVID-19
- Participation of CERN and the Member and Associate Member States in the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme
- Annual CERN-EC meeting
- Meeting with the US Department of Energy (DoE)
- Launch of CERN’s Year of Environmental Awareness
- Protocol visits and events
CERN AUDIT COMMITTEE
- Revised terms of reference of the CERN Audit Committee
On the basis of a report by its Working Group to review the appropriateness of the Audit Committee’s terms of reference, the Council, unanimously decided to approve revised terms of reference of the CERN Audit Committee, as set out in Annex 1 of document CERN/3561/Rev., for entry into force on 1 July 2021, together with the introduction of standard terms of appointment for the members of the Audit Committee, as set out in Annex 2 of the document.
Proposed amendments to the 11th edition of the Staff Rules and Regulations
- Staff Rule S VI 1.07 – Settlement of Disputes and Discipline
On the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the Council unanimously decided to approve an amendment to Staff Rule S VI 1.07 relating to the settlement of disputes and discipline, as set out in document CERN/FC/6498-CERN/3573, for entry into force on 1 July 2021.
- Gender-inclusive language (English)
The Council further took note of editorial changes made to the English version of the Staff Rules and Regulations to render the language used therein fully gender-inclusive, and that the updated version to be published on 1 July 2021 would include those changes.
Medium-Term Plan for the Period 2022-2026 and Draft Budget of the Organization for the Sixty-Eighth Financial Year 2022
The Council heard an extensive presentation by the Director-General of the proposed Medium-Term Plan (MTP) for the period 2022-2026 and the draft Budget for 2022, as set out in document CERN/SPC/1158/Rev.-CERN/FC/6491/Rev.-CERN/3575, in which she outlined the main changes compared to the MTP approved by the Council in September 2020, including the construction of the second DUNE cryostat for the Long Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) in the United States, an oxygen run at the LHC and increased support for ASIC developments.
The Council expressed great satisfaction with the document and, on the recommendation of the Scientific Policy Committee and the Finance Committee, unanimously decided to:
a) approve the overall strategy for the reference period as outlined in Chapter I of the document and elaborated upon in the Appendices (Chapter IV.1);
b) approve the 2022 Draft Budget in 2021 prices, as set out in Chapter III.
The Council further took note of the resources plan for the years 2022 to 2026, as set out in Chapter II of the document.
2022 SCALE OF CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE MEMBER AND ASSOCIATE MEMBER STATES
On the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the Council unanimously decided to approve the percentage scale of contributions for 2022, as set out in Table 1 of document CERN/FC/6502-CERN/3576, to be applied to the final Budget for 2022 in 2022 prices.
DELIVERABLES, TIMELINE AND ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE FCC FEASIBILITY STUDY
The Council heard presentations by the FCC Study Leader, Dr Benedikt, on the main deliverables and timeline of the Feasibility Study for the Future Circular Collider (FCC) and by the Director for International Relations, Ms Warakaulle, on proposed organisational structure for the study, and unanimously decided to approve the organisational structure of the FCC Feasibility Study, as set out in document CERN/SPC/1155/Rev.2-CERN/3566/Rev.2.
MANDATE OF THE LARGE PARTICLE PHYSICS LABORATORY DIRECTORS GROUP (LDG)
The Council heard a presentation by the Chair of the Large Particle Physics Laboratory Directors Group (LDG), Professor Newbold, and unanimously decided to approve the mandate of the LDG, as set out in document CERN/3557/Rev., for entry into force on 1 July 2021.
ACCELERATORS, EXPERIMENTS AND COMPUTING
The Council heard various presentations by the Director for Accelerators and Technology, Dr Lamont, on:
- progress with the work packages for the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) project, and on the project’s earned-value management (EVM) status, notably a negative schedule variance of 3.8 months, mainly linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, with approximately 52% of the cost to completion remaining to be committed;
- the impressive ramp-up of the injectors following the LHC Injectors Upgrades (LIU) and the progressive restart of physics;
- the status of the LHC cool-down and dipole magnet training and the decision to reduce the target beam energy to 6.8 TeV; and
- the latest LHC schedule, providing for beam tests in October 2021 and full recommissioning from 21 February 2022.
The Council heard further presentations by the Director for Research and Computing, Professor Mnich, on:
- the Phase II upgrades of the ATLAS and CMS detectors, and the Management’s opinion that it is currently too early to assess the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the upgrade schedules, which will be reviewed at dedicated meetings throughout the second half of 2021;
- selected physics highlights, the status of preparations for Run 3, the installation of two new experiments, FASERnu and SND@LHC, and the status of LHC computing, in particular the impact of the ongoing worldwide shortage of silicon semiconductors;
- the status of the LBNF/DUNE cryostats, the conclusions of the technical and financial review of the cryostats, activities at the Neutrino Platform, the schedule for the non-LHC experimental programme and the invitation to CERN to become an associate member of the Nuclear Physics European Collaboration Committee (NuPECC).
The Council congratulated all the teams involved in the work on the accelerator complex and the experiment upgrades on the impressive progress achieved.
CLOSED COUNCIL - 17 June 2021
Elections and appointments
a) Pension Fund: Appointment of a Chief Executive Officer ad interim:
On the proposal of the Pension Fund Governing Board, the Council appointed Dr Elena Manola-Bonthond as Chief Executive Officer of the Pension Fund ad interim from 1 July 2021 until the date on which the Chief Executive Officer designate, Mr Doug Heron, takes up his duties.
b) Pension Fund : Reappointment of the Vice-Chair of the PFGB
On the proposal of the Pension Fund Governing Board, the Council reappointed Dr Peter Hristov as Vice-Chair of the PFGB for a second term of office, with retroactive effect from 1 May 2021, until 31 May 2022.
c) Council: Re-election of one Vice-President of Council
The Council re-elected Professor Jochen Schieck as Vice-President of the Council for a third and final term of office of one year as of 1 July 2021.
OPEN COUNCIL - 18 June 2021
Annual Progress Report for 2020
On the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the Council unanimously decided to approve the 2020 Annual Progress Report, as set out in document CERN/SPC/1152/Rev.- CERN/FC/6472/Rev.-CERN/3553/Rev.
Financial Statements of CERN
On the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the Council unanimously decided to approve the Financial Statements of CERN for the 2020 financial year, as set out in document CERN/FC/6494-CERN/3569, and to grant discharge to the Director-General.
ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE CERN PENSION FUND
On the recommendation of the Finance Committee, the Council unanimously decided to approve the Annual Report and Financial Statements of the CERN Pension Fund for the 2020 financial year, as set out in document CERN/FC/6496-CERN/3571, and to grant discharge to the Chief Executive Officer.