Opening last session year Social and Economic Council

May 25, 2010 6:16 AM

Yesterday the Social and Economic Council (“SER”) opened its session year for the last time.

Prime Minister Emily de Jongh-Elhage expressed the hope that the expertise as built up in the course of the years by the SER of the Antilles will be used well and intensively when the new SER is set up for the future countries of Curaçao and St. Maarten. “We are going through very special times. The dismantling comes closer and closer, meaning that the complex process of orderly terminating the one country and simultaneously creating new political entities is in full progress. This process also has far-reaching consequences for the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands Antilles”, according to the Prime Minister. By its tripartite composition, the SER has proven since its establishment in 1966 to be a special government advice body for the testing of policy intentions and draft regulations to the sentiments within the community. It also gives a good picture of the support for these requests for advice within the Antilles community. The institute SER is consequently imperative to the new countries, De Jongh-Elhage states. The new SERs will be confronted with some important issues in the socio-economic field immediately upon their establishment. For instance, the new countries very soon have to work on the starting points for a socio-economic policy, inter alia, and other compelling issues regarding the social security system and pensions have to be dealt with. The SER has stated in correspondence and discussions held with the Ministerial Council that it should be involved earlier in the creation of a policy in socio-economic policy areas. The aspect of the public nature of the advice also has to be interpreted differently, or broader.

(Source: National newspaper Antilliaans Dagblad)

22 May 2010

After having acted as deputy member for a period of two years, Mayesi Hammoud of law firm VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne was appointed as member of the Social and Economic Council for the session year 2010/1011.