THE HAGUE –– No more kingdom conferences. That is the conclusion drawn from a letter Home Affairs Minister Frank Rijkaart sent to the Dutch senate.
Answering a question from the senate committee kingdom relations about the status of a motion former MP Ronald van Raak tabled in 2019 together with former MP Jorien Wuite, Minister Rijkaart wrote: “Earlier it has been decided to make the motion the subject of a kingdom conference. It is now clear that this (conference) will not take place.”
In July 2022 a significant majority of the Second Chamber supported the motion that asked the government to reinstate an annual consultation between the four countries of the kingdom. A joint kingdom committee, chaired by Curacao, would be tasked with the preparations for the consultation. However, before it could begin with the execution of this task, the four countries would have to sign a protocol. This never happened because Aruba did not agree with the conference’s design. That is why the restyled kingdom conference that was scheduled to take place on March 25 and 26, 2023, was canceled.
Alexandra van Huffelen, at the time State Secretary for Kingdom Relations, avoided the issue by leaving it to the new government, but that never made any effort to revive the consultation.
In spite of all this, the senate committee kingdom relations insists that Rijkaart and his state secretary Eddy van Marum announce how they intend to execute the Van Raak motion. They gave the ministers a deadline for their announcement: December 31, 2025.
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