Social and Economic Council
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The Social and Economic Council (Dutch: Sociaal-Economische Raad, SER) is a major economic advisory council to the cabinet of the Netherlands. Formally it heads a system of sector-based regulatory organisations. It represents the social partners trade unions and employers' organisations. It forms the core organisation of the corporatist and social market economy known as the polder model and the main platform for social dialogue.
History
The SER was founded in 1950. It was founded after a long debate about the economic order of the Netherlands. The two main governing parties of the time, the Catholic People's Party (KVP) and the Labour Party (PvdA) had differing opinions on the subject. Both wanted to prevent the repetition of the Great Depression. The Labour Party preferred to grant the government an important regulatory role in the economy, while the KVP preferred to rely on the workings of a self-regulating market economy. A compromise was found in the corporatist model, in which both trade unions and employers' organisations would form sector-based regulatory organisations. The SER headed this structure and served as important partner for the national government. The SER was very important in the reconstruction of the Netherlands after the World War II.
In the 1950s and 60s, the SER was particularly successful in ensuring economic growth through close cooperation between government, trade unions and employers' organisations. In the 1970s, because of rising political polarisation and the 1973 oil crisis, the SER was unable to resolve economic problems. In the 1980s the SER returned to the centre of the economic policy making, as it was the platform for dialogue between the government and its social partners. In the 1990s, the role of the SER began to change. The role of the sector-based regulatory organisations began to decline and the SER increasingly took the role of an advisory council of government; in 1997 the Senate and House of Representatives were granted the right to submit enquiry commissions to the SER.
Goals
The SER has three main goals for Dutch social-economic policy:
- To promote balanced and sustainable economic growth;
- To promote full employment;
- To promote a fair income distribution.
Organisation
The SER has thirty-three members. It consists of three sections, which each have eleven members in the council. These sections are trade unions, employers' organisations and government-appointed members, the so-called Crown members. The trade union members are appointed from the three major unions: FNV (8), CNV (2) and the MHP (1). The members of the employers' organisations are representatives from the three major employers' organisations: VNO-NCW (7), MKB (3) and the LTO (1). The government-appointed members are normally professors of economics or related fields and they include representatives of the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) and the central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank. The board of the SER is formed by four members of each section. The chair of the organisation is always a government appointee.
The SER heads and oversees the system of sector-based regulatory organisations. These organisations can like other governments, provinces, water boards etc. enforce legislationTemplate:Examples needed for their members, in this case companies. The SER is financed by levies which companies pay to the chambers of commerce. It spends €14 million a year.
Activities
The group has negotiated among other things, agreements in the textile sector, the banking sector and the gold sector. The SER also performs legal and administrative tasks. For example in the field of employee participation, healthy and safe working, employment inspections and pensions.Template:Clarify
List of chairs of the Social and Economic Council
| Portrait | Name | Term of office | Previous experience | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| style="background:Template:Party color;"| | Frans de Vries | Dr. Frans de Vries (1884–1958) |
1 June 1950 – 15 June 1958 (Template:Age in years and days) <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>[Died] |
Professor of Economics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam (1918–1945) Rector Magnificus of the Erasmus University Rotterdam (1921–1922, 1928–1929, 1935–1936) Professor of Economics at the University of Amsterdam (1945–1954) |
Independent | |
| Vacant 15 June 1958 – 1 July 1958 | ||||||
| style="background:Template:Party color;"| | Gerard Verrijn Stuart | Dr. Gerard Verrijn Stuart (1893–1969) |
1 July 1958 – 1 May 1964 (Template:Age in years and days) |
Professor of Economics at the University of Amsterdam (1952–1962) |
Independent | |
| style="background:Template:Party color;"| | Jan de Pous | Jan de Pous (1920–1996) |
1 May 1964 – 1 February 1985 (Template:Age in years and days) |
Minister of Economic Affairs (1959–1963) Member of the Council of State (1958–1959) |
Christian Historical Union (1964–1980) | |
| style="background:Template:Party color;"| | Christian Democratic Appeal (1980–1985) | |||||
| style="background:Template:Party color;"| | Theo Quené | Dr. Theo Quené (1930–2011) |
1 February 1985 – 1 January 1996 (Template:Age in years and days) |
Director of the Scientific Council for Government Policy (1978–1985) |
Labour Party | |
| style="background:Template:Party color;"| | Klaas de Vries | Klaas de Vries (born 1943) |
1 January 1996 – 3 August 1998 (Template:Age in years and days) <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>[Res] <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>[Note] |
Member of the House of Representatives (1973–1988) |
Labour Party | |
| Vacant 3 August 1998 – 1 January 1999 | ||||||
| style="background:Template:Party color;"| | Herman Wijffels | Dr. Herman Wijffels (born 1942) |
1 January 1999 – 1 April 2006 (Template:Age in years and days) |
CEO and Chairman of the Rabobank (1986–1999) |
Christian Democratic Appeal | |
| style="background:Template:Party color;"| | Alexander Rinnooy Kan | Dr. Alexander Rinnooy Kan (born 1949) |
1 April 2006 – 1 September 2012 (Template:Age in years and days) |
Member of the Social and Economic Council (1991–1996) Chairman of VNO-NCW (1991–1996) |
Democrats 66 | |
| style="background:Template:Party color;"| | Wiebe Draijer | Wiebe Draijer (born 1965) |
1 September 2012 – 10 September 2014 (Template:Age in years and days) <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>[Res] <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>[Note] |
CEO and Chairman of the McKinsey & Company Netherlands (2003–2012) |
Independent | |
| style="background:Template:Party color;"| | Mariëtte Hamer | Mariëtte Hamer (born 1958) |
10 September 2014 – 1 April 2022 (Template:Age in years and days) |
Member of the House of Representatives (1998–2014) |
Labour Party | |
| Vacant 1 April 2022 – 16 September 2022 | ||||||
| style="background:Template:Party color;"| | Kim Putters | Kim Putters (born 1973) |
16 September 2022 – Incumbent (Template:Age in years and days) |
Member of the Senate (2003–2013) Chairman of The Netherlands Institute for Social Research (2013–2022) |
Labour Party | |
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- <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>Died in office
- <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>Resigned when he was appointed as Minister of Social Affairs and Employment in the Second Kok cabinet
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Current Members of the Social and Economic Council
Appointed Members of the Social and Economic Council
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- <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>Chairwoman
Trade associations Members of the Social and Economic Council
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- <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>Vice Chairman by Ex officio as Chairman of the Industry and Employers confederation
Trade union Members of the Social and Economic Council
- <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>Vice Chairman by Ex officio as Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions
See also
External links
- Pages with script errors
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- 1950 establishments in the Netherlands
- Business organisations based in the Netherlands
- Dutch financial advisors
- Dutch political institutions
- Dutch trade association executives
- Dutch trade union leaders
- Economy of the Netherlands
- Government agencies established in 1950
- Government-related professional associations
- Labor in the Netherlands
- Members of the Social and Economic Council
- Non-profit organisations based in the Netherlands
- Industry in the Netherlands
- Think tanks established in 1950
- Think tanks based in the Netherlands
- Scientific organizations established in 1950
- Welfare in the Netherlands