The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg's Economic and Social Council (ESC) was established by the law of 21 March 1966 (amended by a further law passed on 15 December 1986). The Economic and Social Council is the government's permanent consultative body in the area of economic and social policy. It is a forum for national tripartite discussion on economic, social and financial issues for which consensus-based solutions are needed. Its general mandate is the study of economic, social and financial issues concerning either several economic sectors or the entire national economy. The Council operates either on referral from the government or on its own initiative.
The Economic and Social Council's role is to:
- draw up an opinion on the economic, social and financial situation of the country every year during the first quarter;
- to issue, at the government's request, opinions on general legislative or regulatory measures that it intends to adopt, when these measures concern a number of economic sectors or professional groups or the national economy as a whole.
- In urgent situations, however, the government is legally freed from the obligation to consult the ESC;
- to submit opinions on specific issues, at the government's request;
- to study economic, financial and social issues of a general or specific nature on its own initiative when it deems appropriate;
- to express a view at the request of the government, usually by means of a single, coordinated opinion, on matters of general interest or on any issues on which the trade associations have issued fundamentally divergent opinions;
- to draw up an opinion at the specific request of the government on the opinions of the tripartite coordination committee, passed on by the government;
- to express a view on the annual revision of the consumer price index weighting scheme.
The Economic and Social Council has 39 members (18 representatives of the employers' organisations, 18 representatives of the workers' organisations and 3 experts appointed by the Government).
Responsibilities are allocated as follows:
13 representatives of the business class;
2 representatives of the professional classes;
3 representatives of the farming and wine-growing sector.
14 representatives of private sector employees;
4 representatives of civil servants and public sector employees.
The employers' and workers' representatives are appointed by the cabinet on the advice of the most representative professional organisations.
The Council's members have a renewable four-year mandate.
A president and two vice-presidents are appointed by the Grand Duke on the advice of the Council for a period of two years.
The constituent bodies of the ESC are: the Plenary Assembly, the Bureau, the enlarged Bureau, the commissions, the enlarged ESC and the secretariat.
-The Plenary Assembly consists of all the full members of the ESC. It votes on the opinions prepared by the commissions, takes stock of all work in progress and provides guidance for opinions being prepared. -The Bureau is the executive body of the Economic and Social Council. It is composed of the president and the two vice-presidents, as well as the secretary-general. -The enlarged Bureau: should the need arise, the Bureau can be enlarged to include other members of the ESC. -Special commissions are set up for each opinion to be drafted. The work is led by a president, assisted by one or more rapporteurs chosen from among the members of the commission. The rapporteur or rapporteurs are assisted by the secretariat. -Depending on the circumstances, the enlarged ESC comprises: -the Luxembourg ESC, -the Luxembourg delegation to the European ESC, -the Luxembourg delegation to the ESC of the Greater Region. -The secretariat is headed by the secretary-general who is responsible for the management of the ESC’s constituent bodies: the Plenary Assembly, the Bureau and the commissions, as well as the three groups making up the ESC. The secretariat is responsible for budgetary and administrative management.
The Council can act either on its own initiative or on referral from the government when drawing up opinions or studies on issues that fall within its sphere.
Work is organised in accordance with the ESC's rules of procedure.
The Plenary Assembly decides whether a question submitted to the Council will be examined by the Plenary Assembly or referred to a committee. In the first instance, the matter will be discussed immediately and a rapporteur asked to prepare a draft opinion, which will be presented to the plenary assembly for discussion and a vote. Otherwise, a rapporteur appointed by a committee will submit a report and a draft opinion on its behalf, on which the Plenary Assembly will be asked to vote following a discussion.
Members may table amendments to draft opinions and studies submitted to the Plenary Assembly. The Plenary Assembly votes either by a show of hands, or by roll call. Plenary Assembly sessions are not open to the public. Minutes are drawn up for each session, and signed by the president and the secretary-general.
The opinions and studies are published. They are widely disseminated and can also be consulted on the ESC web site: http://www.ces.public.lu/fr/publications.html.