The worldwide crisis due to COVID-19 has hit the islands in the Kingdom relentlessly hard, notes Erwin Arkenbout, representative of the Netherlands in Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten. “The past few months have been intense and have led to a discussion about rights and obligations within the Kingdom. Can we count on each other?” Arkenbout poses the question in a speech in honor of Prinsjesdag, the day on which King Willem-Alexander addresses a joint session of the Dutch Senate and House of Representatives to give the speech from the throne (Dutch: Troonrede); setting out the main features of government policy…
Author: The Publisher
THE HAGUE – “It remains urgent that the detention situation in St. Maarten improves within the foreseeable future. The problem requires a decisive approach and the cabinet has offered assistance on several occasions,” State Secretary Knops writes in a letter to the Second Chamber about the execution of a motion tabled by CDA-MP Chris van Dam and VVD-MP André Bosman on June 22 that was approved by the Dutch parliament. The motion asks the Kingdom Council of Ministers to take control of the prison system in St. Maarten for a period of five years. While Knops speaks of the need…
PHILIPSBURG — Minister of Education, the honorable Drs. Rodolphe Samuel, issued a statement informing the general public that a total of nine persons – seven civil servants and two external candidates – have enrolled from St. Maarten to participate in a one year legislative course organized by the University of Curacao. The program, slated to begin today September 14, 2020, is an online training for lawyers, to equip them with the knowledge of the technique and rules to draft legislation. Participants in the program, originate from St. Maarten, Curacao and Aruba. The initiative, from the University of Curacao, is one…
PHILIPSBURG – Aruba has reportedly a deal with a consortium of local banks for a loan in an attempt to get away from the conditions the kingdom has attached to the provision of liquidity support. Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes said last Thursday that she has found a party that is interested in extending the loan – reportedly 100 million guilders against an interest rate of 5.25 percent. But Aruba cannot get this loan without approval from The Hague. State Secretary Drs. Raymond Knops said after the Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting last Friday that Aruba needs permission from the Netherlands…
I follow the trails in the kochia bushes And find the age-old footprints of the Diamond 26 and the dew-fresh shoe prints of sobbing children escaping to go to school, backpacks caught in the prickly thorns of the thickets because the gendarmes turned them back at the border. I hear the lizards scurrying about without borders I watch the mockingbirds take off with no flight plans And I swear I’ve seen this green iguana somewhere before without a pass to cross from Colebay to Bellevue from French Quarter to Belvedere How did we then become immigrants in this land of…
THE HAGUE – The outcome of the Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting of Friday cannot come as a surprise to anyone. “As long as St. Maarten does not agree with the core of the package, a fruitful discussion will not be possible,” State Secretary Drs. Raymond Knops wrote in a letter to the Second Chamber on Tuesday. The package Knops refers to contains the conditions for continued liquidity support. One of those conditions is the establishment of the consensus kingdom law Caribbean Reform Entity (CRE). Knops notes that, since the Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting of July 10, there has…
PHILIPSBURG — On Thursday the USP faction leader in parliament, MP Claudius “Toontje” Buncamper, forwarded a letter to the minister of TEATT, the honorable Ludmilla de Weever. MP Buncamper’s letter to the minister is prompted from the fact that on August 25th, various MPs requested a meeting of parliament with the ministers of TEATT, VSA and Finance, which never took place. “Unfortunately, the urgency of said meeting has not been underscored and I have therefore decided to submit my questions to you in writing as time is not on our side.” MP Buncamper stated in his letter to the minister.…
By Hilbert Haar Our island is facing the mother of all challenges – and even that is an understatement. The COVID-19 crises has laid bare what decision makers have known for a very, very long time: it is dangerous to put all your eggs in one basket. Successive governments have however done exactly that by ramming themselves on their overfed breasts every time the annual number of cruise arrivals went up. But even before Hurricane Irma and even before the COVID-19 crisis hit, St. Maarten had its best years as a cruise destination already behind it. Gone from center stage…
PHILIPSBURG – Another advice from our Council of Advice is in. This time it is the advice regarding the United Nations–Decolonization–St. Maarten, as presented to the Council by the Parliament of St. Maarten. MP Wescot-Williams recently shared some insight on the matter: “This dossier has been circulating in Parliament since 2018, consisting of numerous documents and in the view of some, it is making a case for St. Maarten to ‘have its decolonization process completed’. “Looking back at the Parliament meeting of June 18th, in which the decision was taken to send this request to the Council of Advice, and…
Reports coming out of Curacao indicate that well-known people on St. Maarten allegedly received millions in payments over a number of years from companies linked to ENNIA Insurances. These payments supposedly were made using primarily insurance premium monies paid by premium holders at these ENNIA related companies. The reports indicate that these persons hardly worked for these payments. They were also not listed on any official payroll linked to any of these ENNIA related companies. However, it is debatable whether these payments were illegal. Even payments for a person’s loyalty can be considered legal. The only question that needs to…
