Prime Minister & Chair of the EOC Silveria Jacobs Updates on COVID-19 Developments MARCH 29, 2020: People of St. Maarten, both at home and abroad, I hereby address you, as Prime Minister and Chair of the EOC (Emergency Operations Center), in an update for today Sunday, March 29, 2020, as part of the process to keep the community of St. Maarten informed about the latest developments and Government’s COVID-19 preparedness, prevention, mitigation and response measures. In a meeting of the EOC held today, March 29, 2020, on increasing measures to ensure the safety and security of the population in this…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – “We are one Kingdom, we are all in the same boat and will help each other,” said Minister Raymond Knops (CDA) of the Interior and Kingdom Relations ten days ago. But after the reunion of the Kingdom Council of Ministers, last Friday, he pointed to the islands’ own responsibility and said that if the Netherlands makes money available, it should come back into the Dutch treasury. St. Maarten, Curaçao and Aruba have asked the Netherlands for help to deal with the corona crisis on the islands. Aruba has forty registered corona infections since Saturday morning. None of the…
PHILIPSBURG – The Board Financial Supervision (CFT) has advised the Kingdom Council of Ministers (KCOM) to allow St. Maarten to deviate from article 15 of the consensus kingdom law financial supervision. The CFT is however unable to advise how far the country should be allowed to deviate, due to a lack of pertinent information. The CFT sent its advice to the KCOM in a letter dated March 24. Article 15 of the financial supervision law stipulates that the country’s budget has to be balanced. The interest burden on capital investment loans is capped at 5 percent of the average state…
People of St. Maarten, both at home and abroad, I hereby address you, as Prime Minister and Chair of the EOC (Emergency Operations Center), in an update for today Saturday, March 28, 2020. Today, Saturday, March 28, 2020, I held a meeting with the members and stakeholders of ESF 6 which was led by Public Health. In this meeting, representatives of the SMMC (St. Maarten Medical Centre), the Ambulance Department, and General Practitioners (GPs) were present. ESF 6 Coordinator/Acting Secretary-General and Head of the Public Health Department Fenna Arnell as well as Collective Prevention Services (CPS) were also present. Fruitful discussions were held with the stakeholders aimed at enhancing communication, cooperation, and collaboration seeing our limited capacity and resources. We were able to conclude very important decision points on the way forward in…
HARBOR VIEW — While observing social distancing protocols, members of the new Jacobs II cabinet were sworn in today, Saturday, March 28, 2020, by His Excellency, the Governor, drs Eugene B. Holiday, in the reception hall of the Governor’s Cabinet. In his speech the Governor referenced the January 9th elections that led to the formation of this National Alliance/United People’s Party coalition. It was the task of leader of the National Alliance (NA), Silveria Jacobs, as Formateur to form a government. The screening process for the candidates took almost two months to complete. On January 27th the Governor handed Jacobs…
People of St. Maarten, both here and abroad, I hereby address you, as Prime Minister and Chair of the EOC (Emergency Operations Center), in an update for today Friday, March 27th, 2020, as part of the process to keep the community of St. Maarten informed about the latest developments and Government’s COVID-19 preparedness, prevention, mitigation and response measures. Yesterday, Thursday, March 26th, 2020, I updated you on the joint controls being executed by the Police Force of St. Maarten together with their French counterparts. These controls started today, Friday, March 27, 2020. I have been asking for persons to heighten…
~ Says Stimulus Package not discussed ~ PHILIPSBURG — Parliamentary Faction Leader of the United People (UP) party MP Grisha Marten-Heyliger on Friday said communication and cohesive efforts by the coalition leaves a lot to be desired as St. Maarten is in a fight to keep its residents safe from the Coronavirus. She stressed that once the new Council of Ministers is sworn in, this lack of communication and cohesiveness must be remedied to yield effective governing that the people of St. Maarten expects in these uncertain and crisis-driven times. “Communication cannot be underestimated in these times when people expect…
~ Largest cruises halted for two months ~ PHILIPSBURG – Due to the spread of Coronavirus Royal Caribbean International and Carnival’s Princess Cruises have extended the suspension of their operations with another 30 days, until May 12th. Norwegian Cruise Line still focuses on April 11th. All three likely won’t benefit from the $2 trillion coronavirus bailout package the American Senate has passed because the companies are not registered in the United States. Royal Caribbean International, Carnival Cruise Line and Norwegian Cruise Line are the biggest cruise lines in the world. Together they control 82 percent of the global market. While they…
Harbour View – On March 26, 2020, His Excellency the Governor of Sint Maarten, drs. E.B. Holiday, received the updated final report from formateur S. Jacobs. The formateur has accepted the commission to form a new government which has the support of a broad majority in Parliament comprised of the NA-fraction and the UP-fraction. The new government consists of Ministers who are committed to the promotion of the wellbeing of Sint Maarten, who will amongst others give priority to concluding the legislation regarding the combating of money laundering and financing of terrorism, including the penal procedure code, the development of…
PHILIPSBURG – Plans for emergency measures to mitigate the effects of the corona-virus so far do not include the key recommendations proposed by private sector organizations. The government published its so-called Stimulus Plan on March 26. It does not contain direct measures, but only a list of eighteen proposals designed to provide relief for the next three to six months. Quite some proposals require the cooperation of third parties. Where the private sector organizations want an across the board payroll subsidy of 90 percent, the government offers payroll supplement for employees that risk losing their jobs. The supplement is 750…
