Institute of Law workshop determines legal aspects of social market values in Palestinian economy

Legal experts, professors, and researchers delved into the legal aspects of the Palestinian economic system in a workshop organized by the Institute of Law at Birzeit University, together with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, on Tuesday, December 18, 2018.

The first session of the workshop, entitled “The General, International and Comparative Framework of ‘Social Market Economy,’” was chaired by Asem Khalil, a professor of law at Birzeit University and the vice president for community affairs.

Khalil said that the workshop is part of a research project undertaken by the Institute of Law to analyze the nature of social market economy systems and examine the extent to which such systems are connected to the legal apparatus governing the Palestinian economy.

The session featured a paper by Mahmoud Alawna, an instructor in the Department of law, and       Nadia Abu-Alia, a researcher in the Institute of Law, on the objectives and principles of the social market economy; a paper by Mueen Barghouthi, an academic researcher in the Institute of Law, entitled “The Constitutional Aspects of ‘Social Market Economy.’”

Additionally, the session included a paper by Mustafa Mari, a senior researcher in the Institute of Law, entitled “The International Contractual Aspects for the State of Palestine”; a paper by Elias Al-Hihi, a researcher within the Institute of Law, entitled “The Nature of Palestine’s Obligations under the ICESCR: The Rights to Work and Health as Case Studies”; and a paper by Jamil Salem, a senior researcher in the Institute of Law, entitled “   The Evolution of the Social State: The German Model.”

The second session, entitled “Compatibility Between the Palestinian Legislations and Social Market Economy Principles,” was chaired by Barghouthi, and featured five papers: the first paper, by Alaa Hamad, a legal researcher within the Institute of Law, was entitled “The Social Security Decree By Law No.(19) of 2014 from the Social Market Economy Perspective,” and the second paper, by Nisreen Daromar, a researcher in the Institute of Law, was entitled “  Analyzing the Applicable Company Law in the West Bank of Palestine in Light of the Social Market Economy Principles.”

The third paper, by Morouj Rihan, a young researcher within the “Promising Researchers” program, was entitled “To What Extent Palestinian Legislation is Compatible with the Principle of the Precedence of Monetary Policy as one of the Basic Principles of Social Market Economy”; the fourth paper, by Shorouq Salameh, also a member of the “Promising Researchers” program, was entitled “To What Extent Palestinian Legislation is Compatible with the Principle of Having an Effective Price System for Goods, Services, and Markets as one of the Basic Principles of Social Market Economy”; and the fifth paper, by Karam Omar, a researcher within the Institute of Law, was entitled “Hypothesis for Applying a Social Market Economy in Palestine.”

At the end of the presentations, a committee formed of legal and economic experts such as Firas Melhem, Naser Abdelkarim, Amir Khalil, Tareq Sadeq, and Samir Abdallah.