Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy
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Guatemalan Congress approves the creation of the Social Economic Council
The Guatemalan Congress approved, with 128 votes in favour, the creation of the Social Economic Council (decree 2-2012). The Council will have a permanent status and will act in a consulting role towards the state on economic, social and environmental matters. Also, the Council can propose and support legislative initiatives. The Council will have its own budget and will have a certain amount of autonomy to complete its goals.
The main objective of the Council is to maintain a space for social dialogue between the productive sectors in Guatemala. In this dialogue, matters regarding the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of public policies on economic and social issues can be discussed. The idea of a Guatemalan Social Economic Council (SEC) was inspired by its equivalent in the Netherlands, the SER. The importance of the SEC has long been recognised by local politicians in terms of governance and the Dutch and Spanish embassies in Guatemala have put a lot of effort in its realisation through their countries development cooperation’s. Also NIMD has been working towards the creation of the SEC in Guatemala for the past 5 years through its Guatemala field office.
The idea is that the SEC will function as a platform in which the different opinions within the productive sectors can be reconciled and translated or formed into public policy on for example environmental, economic and social issues. The decree was approved after a series of agreements and consensus between the different blocks in parliament. The creation of the SEC has been widely recognised as a further step into the further strengthening of the Guatemalan democracy.
