Joost van Iersel, President of the Section for Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion, EESC

Joost P. van Iersel began his professional career in 1967 as a civil servant in the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. Subsequently he was general secretary of a Dutch employers' association. From 1979 until 1994 Mr van Iersel was a Member of the Parliament (Christian Democrats), where he focused on trade and industry and EC matters, and also served as president of the Dutch European Movement. From 1992 until 2002 he was chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of The Hague, where he took a particular interest in regional infrastructure and spatial development in the Randstad (the densely populated region in the west of the country). Mr van Iersel has served on the supervisory board of several companies and social organisations. He has been a member of the EESC since 2002. From 2006 until 2010 he chaired the EESC Consultative Committee on Industrial Change. He subsequently chaired the EESC Steering Committee on Europe 2020. Since April 2013 Mr van Iersel has chaired the EESC's Section for Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion. His main areas of interest as a rapporteur are industrial and sector policies, (European) metropolitan areas and good EU governance. Mr van Iersel lectures and writes articles on political economy and Europe.