PHILIPSBURG — As per the Kingdom Council outcomes of Thursday April 9th, it is very clear that country St. Maarten needs to take its first steps out of the crisis before help from the Netherlands will be forthcoming. Meaning, that solidarity in tightening our belts needs to first happen at home; and budget cuts across the Board are expected. Those actions, together with a timely and qualitative follow-up proposal to save jobs will likely not be available until the May timeframe, but it is the only way forward to (continue to) obtain support and save jobs and livelihoods of St.…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – The Kingdom Council of Ministers will honor the requests for financial support from the BES-islands, Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten, Minister Raymond Knops (Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations) said during a life-streamed press conference from The Hague on Thursday morning. Knops emphasized the role of the Kingdom “We are in this together and will get out of this together. We will help you.” At the same time, Knops repeatedly pointed to the responsibility of the autonomous countries for their own financial household. The financial aid the minister referred to covers the next six weeks with interest-free loans that…
In the chaos of the corona pandemic, some things suddenly become very clear. While private businesses are the backbone of the economy, we now see that the heart of society beats with the grace of essential companies and government organizations. For the first time it is clear which they are; thanks to COVID-19 we know who cannot be missed. And what is really important. Construction has been halted. In the current situation, concrete is a side issue. Of course everyone needs a roof over their head and it would be great if a new hospital, airport and prison arise in…
PHILIPSBURG — In response to the advice the CFT has given to the Kingdom Council of Ministers (KCOM; or Rijksministerraad, RMR) on the request of Curacao for financial aid. We believe this analysis of Dr. Tromp to be quite informative and an interesting read. We also note here for the record that St. Maarten has not yet submitted their request for financial aid to the RMR as today, Wednesday, April 8th, 2020, at the time of this publication. CFT’S RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE RMR DATED APRIL 7, 2020 The legal mandate of the Cft is to monitor the fiscal situation in…
PHILIPSBURG – For the first time since its establishment almost ten years ago there is a public row among the board members of the Board financial supervision (Cft). The Cft-members representing St. Maarten (Russell Voges), Curacao (Gregory Damoen) and Aruba (Hellen van der Wal) have openly distanced themselves from an advice to the Kingdom Council of Ministers (KCom) about conditions for the financial support St. Maarten needs to survive the onslaught of the corona-virus crisis. Voges, Damoen and Van der Wal demand solidarity from stronger economies “with no strings attached” but the advice the Cft sent to The Hague for…
Dear Editor, At some point the medical and transmission risks of the Covid-19 virus will decrease and the governments will be looking to restart the economy without increasing the risk of a restart of the virus. It is impossible to say when it will be wise to start this exit from lockdown strategies but it is perfectly possible to start thinking out strategies to exit lockdowns and restart the economy when the time comes for this tough governance decision to be made. Clearly transmission risks are very different for different activities. The essence of what can be called the “Traffic…
CAY HILL — St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) is preparing for more suspected or confirmed COVID-19 patients that need to be admitted to the hospital. Based on case studies and data analysis from other COVID-19 countries where communal spread has occurred, estimates on the actual number – not to be confused with the reported number – of infected persons in the community can be forecasted based on the mortality rate and the doubling in cases over a specific number of days. COVID surge and pre-existing conditions As per April 7th, 2020 SMMC has admitted 12 COVID-19 related patients since the…
OYSTER POND — Late Monday afternoon authorities sent a container truck with containers to block off the border at the Oyster Pond frontier crossing after the border in Cupecoy had been blocked off earlier in the day and checkpoints set up at the Cole Bay/Bellevue and Dutch/French Quarter border crossings. The reason why the frontier border in Oyster Pond was still open during the day was unknown as both borders in Cupecoy and Oyster Pond were to be blokkaded. See news report below from Sunday, April 5, 2020. StMaartenNews.com managed to obtain photos and video footage just as a container…
While exploring the supposedly deserted streets of Dutch St. Maarten for a media report, we encountered several homeless persons, some more aggressive in their approach than others, despite there being a complete around-the-clock 24-hour lockdown. One of the homeless person was a man asleep on the sidewalk in the vicinity of the Kruythof roundabout in Cole Bay. We are equally shocked and saddened to see that despite the warnings of the prime minister to stay home, a homeless man was left to his own devices on the streets of St. Maarten. We really hope this corona-crisis teaches our government to…
PHILIPSBURG – De lockdown vanwege het coronavirus heeft tot een golf van ontslagen of inhoudingen op het salaris geleid. “Er is een soortgelijke situatie als na orkaan Irma, toen tal van werkgevers hun personeel benadeelden. Werknemers die hun zaak voor de rechter brachten, kregen gelijk,” zegt advocaat Cor Merx. Hij adviseert: “Maak gebruik van de tijd die je nu hebt om je werkgever een brief te schrijven.” Een arbeidsovereenkomst is bindend: zowel de werknemer als de werkgever moet zich aan de gemaakte afspraken houden. Deze overeenkomst kan niet eenzijdig worden beëindigd, tenzij er een ‘dringende reden’ is die ‘onverwijld’ wordt…
