Open letter to President of CERN Council - Geneva, 9 December 2009

Dear President,

We are writing to you in our capacity as representatives of the “employee” college of the Pension Fund Governing Board (hereinafter PFGB) to express our total opposition to your plan to hear only the two expert members of the PFGB, in a closed session of CERN Council.

The presence in the PFGB of two experts with the right to vote is, in itself, very strange. By definition, an expert gives a specialist’s opinion; he does not take part in the decision-making process, even if the latter is influenced by him.

However, this is not our most serious grievance. What fills the representatives of the members and beneficiaries of the Pension Fund with indignation is that the members of the “employee” college of the PFGB will not be present at your meeting which is, in reality, a partially closed session. Indeed, not only will the expert members of the PFGB be there, but they will also give an opinion which will not have been discussed at the PFGB, thus expressing a very personal view of the situation.

Such a situation is totally unacceptable in its contempt for the representatives of the “employee” college in the PFGB.

We are all the more indignant at the situation, since our request is minimal. To be specific, we are not asking for all representatives of the “employee” college to be present, though such a situation would be quite normal, but only the Vice-President of the PFGB, moreover appointed by CERN Council.

The representatives of the “employee” college sincerely hope that you will consider our appeal and accept the presence of the Vice-President at the CERN Council session during which the experts will be heard. This decision will indeed be interpreted by the members and beneficiaries of the Pension Fund as a return to normal practices and a sign of your trust in them.

In the hope of a positive response from you, I remain,


Yours sincerely,



F. Derie, member appointed by the ESO Staff Association


G. Deroma, member appointed by the CERN Staff Association


D. Duret, member appointed by the CERN Staff Association, Vice-President


F. Wittgenstein, member appointed by the CERN and ESO Pensioners’ Association

by Association du peronnel