Paris hosted last 10-11 April the 41st session of the Assembly of Parties (AP) of EUTELSAT IGO. As in the previous two-year period, the AP was chaired by Monaco.
The AP appointed the organisation’s new Advisory Council (AC), to comprise the following parties: France (which since the revision of the AP rules of procedure approved four years ago holds a ‘special seat’ on the AC as the notifying administration before the International Telecommunication Union), Azerbaijan, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Switzerland and Turkey. Portugal opted not to repeat as a candidate, to respect the rotation principle. However, given the problem of ensuring respect for that principle, the AP proposed that rule 33 of the Assembly’s rules of procedure be revised. Armenia ended up contesting in a declaration the expansion of the AC to eight members, instead of opting for a formal vote, eliminating one of the candidates.
The Assembly took note of the activities carried out by the secretariat since the last AP two years ago, and of the operator Eutelsat SA’s compliance with the base principles. It also adopted the budgets for the financial years running from July 2019 to June 2020 and July 2020 to June 2021. The AP authorised the executive secretary, Piotr Dmochowski-Lipski of Poland, after consulting the AC, to analyse the possible naming of a new external auditor.
The chief executive officer (CEO) of the satellite operator, Rodolphe Belmer, gave the usual presentation to the Assembly. The company, like its competitors, continues to record declining revenue, though it does expect results to recover in the short term.
The Assembly also agreed to maintain the budget limit set out in the Arrangement (article 4.1) in force between the operator and EUTELSAT IGO, updated at AP39, which guarantees Eutelsat SA’s financing of the organisation until 30 June 2020.
The AP noted the problems the AC has faced when revising the staff rules and the pension system, due to the lack of salary level alignment with the United Nations system, as agreed by the AC, without changing the staff profiles determined by the Assembly of Parties. It was thus decided that the staff regulations would remain unchanged, and that no amendments to the current rules would take force, as expected, on 1 July 2019. It also decided that individual contribution rates could eventually be established for the new pension agreements, if necessary. The AC was mandated to continue the detailed review of this regulation, which will be reconsidered by the Assembly within two years.
The AP furthermore decided that when the first term of the executive secretary nears its end in July 2021, the Assembly chair should write to the parties at least nine months beforehand, asking them to propose candidates for the position.
The AP definitively confirmed that the current administrator would replace the executive secretary when he is absent or otherwise impeded, and also authorised the executive secretary to sign a cooperation agreement with the Intersputnik International Organisation of Space Communications.
Note that the amended Convention, which took force in 2002, has been ratified to date by 42 of the 49 parties comprising EUTELSAT IGO.
The next AP has been scheduled for 24-25 March 2021.
