The 21st meeting of the ECO Council took place in Copenhagen on 4-5 December 2019, chaired by Portugal.
This session considered the financial issues usually present on the agenda of the autumn Council meeting. The 2020 budget was approved, including a salary increase of 0.8 percent. Also discussed was the 2021-2022 financial plan, which calls for a new ECO director to be hired in the last year of the period.
The Council noted the preliminary results (up to 31 October) of the ECO’s 2019 working programme. The final results will be presented at the spring Council meeting. It also approved the Office’s 2020 working programme.
The German council-member put forward a question about future financing of the CEPT Satellite Monitoring Station in Leeheim, Germany, given that Spain and the United Kingdom, two of the eight members covered by the respective memorandum of understanding (SAT MoU), have withdrawn from the agreement. The chair of the SAT MoU Management Committee, Frédéric Couturier of France, addressed a letter to the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) in April 2019 which was debated at the July plenary meeting, recalling the principle of solidarity. Also, five of the MoU administrations, all but Switzerland, sent a contribution to that same committee plenary meeting, suggesting that costs be shared throughout CEPT. The ECC requested additional information about the foreseeable evolution of satellite monitoring needs and how administrations not included in the memorandum monitor satellite services. A decision on the matter should be made at the next plenary meeting, scheduled for March. Due to the difficulty of attracting new members, the SAT MoU Management Committee sounded out the ECO Council about whether CEPT could eventually assume the shortfall in financial resources, thereby enabling activity to continue at reasonable cost. If the shortfall is not resolved, the MoU will expire in 2021. It was created in 2003 and now comprises Germany, Cyprus, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
The Council considered the result of a first remote meeting held on 23 September on a test basis and evaluated the possibility of eventually replacing its physically attended meetings once or twice a year with web-meetings. Following the chair’s proposal, this issue was addressed together with the subject of "Climate change and the role of telecom and posts tackling this fundamental question for our future", given that the reduction in trips and international travel, besides decreasing costs for administrations, would also have a major impact on greenhouse gas emissions, which the states are committed to lowering. Most administrations have indicated their support for holding web-meetings, although a minority of about one third does not support them. Beyond some technical limitations, the issue of privacy and the length of the aforementioned first remote meeting were raised as objections. It was finally decided that in the future the Council will try to hold remote meetings, dividing them into two sessions. If the agenda includes matters concerning human resource management, then an in-person meeting would be called. The chair, the vice-chair and the ECO director will examine the agenda sufficiently beforehand so they can make a timely decision on the meeting format. The Office should support the technical transition, namely by procuring a system to support the WebRTC function so that additional software does not have to be installed.
The Council will continue to discuss the office’s contribution to sector-specific mitigation and adjustment to climate change, per the guidelines from the European Commission (meant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent by 2030) and the recommendations from the European Parliament, which in late November urged aviation and shipping (currently outside the Paris Agreement) to align their emissions given the ongoing “climate emergency”. The subject is now being debated in the scope of the review of the ECC’s 2020-2025 Strategy Plan and in the working group set up by the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG).
The Office presented the current situation of various ongoing projects such as the Office’s internet portal (CEPT-ECO-ECC-Com-ITU-CERP website); the Spectrum Engineering Advanced Monte Carlo Analysis Tool (SEAMCAT); the ECO frequency information system (EFIS); the documental database; the Application Programming Interface (API); and the database of the ECC’s working programme. A presentation was given on developments in improving the Office’s computer system, particularly security aspects, in the wake of the technical audit conducted.
The council-members approved the structure and calendar proposed by the Office’s deputy director (Freddie McBride of Ireland) for the 2019 edition of the ECO Annual Report, which will be sent to administrations for comments starting on 23 March. The report, to be published only in digital version for the second time, should be placed online on 11 May.
Regarding human resource management, the Council took note of the report by the ECO director (Per Christensen of Denmark) about the latest recruitment, replacing José Carrascosa of Spain. The Croatian expert Zeljko Tabakovic took office last August after signing a four-year contract. A change to the staff rules and internal instructions was also approved to bring employee contributions into line with current rules in Denmark, whereby pensions are henceforth to be regulated by a bilateral agreement between the civil servant and an insurer of his or her choice.
The chair and the Danish council-member (who substituted the vice-chair of the Council in the interviews, as the former was unable to attend) reported to the Council in closed session regarding the assessment of the director’s performance. The eleven experts and administrative personnel interviewed indicated that they were extremely satisfied with the Office’s management. A meeting was then held with the director to examine one or another area for possible improvement.
The next meeting of the ECO Council has been scheduled for 12-13 May, also in Copenhagen, at the ECO’s offices.
