THE HAGUE — St. Maarten will only get liquidity support from the Netherlands in 2019 if it complies with several conditions the Kingdom Council of Ministers has put in place. “These conditions see – among other things – to the detention capacity, the remuneration and fringe benefits for members of parliament, the deployment of the National Police and pension reform,” State Secretary Raymond Knops (Kingdom Relations) wrote in a letter dated April 5 to the Second Chamber. While the letter does not mention further details, the Kingdom Council of Ministers apparently demands that the country increases the detention capacity at…
Author: The Publisher
By Hilbert Haar When parliaments speak, governments have to listen. Those iconic words came from Jeroen Recourt, leader of the Dutch delegation after a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultation (Ipko) in 2015. Recourt thought that establishing a dispute regulation was only a matter of months after the four Ipko-delegations had reached an agreement. The dispute regulator would have to be an independent body, its rulings had to be binding and countries could only submit legal disputes to the regulator. That Recourt was overly optimistic at the time is clear by now. Years went by without a dispute regulation. And…
PHILIPSURG — Members of Parliament Rolando Brison, Silveria Jacobs, Tamara Leonard Claude Peterson will travel to the Netherlands for an April 13 to 21 mission to discuss the upcoming vote in the Dutch parliament about the draft dispute regulation State Secretary Raymond Knops submitted to parliament on November 29 of last year. Knops’ draft does not sit well with the parliaments of St. Maarten, Curacao and Aruba. During an Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultation (Ipko) in 2015 the delegations of the Netherlands and the delegations of the three Caribbean constituent countries in the kingdom reached an historic agreement about the dispute regulation…
DUTCH QUARTER — The Dutch Quarter sewerage project which took off with a quite an impressive start is now stalled for financial reasons. This project which is financed by European funding is said to have stopped because the contractor did not receive any funds from government to pay the employees. Minister of Finance Perry Geerlings when questioned at the Council of Ministers Press Conference on Wednesday, said that they are now “working on it.” Meanwhile, the island utility company GEBE is still busy with connecting and the regulating the water aspect of the water for the community. While residents have…
PHILIPSBURG — The delegation headed by Finance Minister Perry Geerlings to a meeting with the bondholders and the Princess Juliana International Airport in the United States is said to have went well. The meeting was to persuade the bondholders who had apparently loaned some $125 million in 2012 to the airport to hand over the funds that they received from the insurance company to help in the reconstruction of the airport which was severely damaged by the storms of 2017. Minister of Finance when questioned about the results of the meeting said that the delegation had an opportunity to meet with…
~ no objections against the verbal declaration of approval of credentials of Jules James ~ PHILIPSBURG — Opposition members of Parliament made a song and dance about procedural matters in a meeting on Monday afternoon designed to examine – again – the credentials of substitute MP Jules James. Accusations against chairlady MP Sarah Wescot-Williams of misleading Governor Drs. Eugène Holiday and manipulating the agenda of Parliament from the opposition benches fizzled when the chair wanted to address these accusations during the closing of the meeting; all opposition MPs left, leaving the meeting without a quorum. National Alliance and United St.…
C&W expands capabilities in Dutch Caribbean through combination with UTS Improving customer experience and delivering world-class connected entertainment Bringing long-term investment and innovation to Dutch Caribbean Creating “Moments that Move Us” for customers ### WILLEMSTAD, CURAÇAO – Cable & Wireless Communications’ (“C&W”) parent company, Liberty Latin America Ltd. (LLA), announced on March 26th, 2019, that it has entered into a definitive agreement with the Government of Curaçao to acquire 87.5% of United Telecommunication Services (UTS) which provides video, broadband, fixed-line telephony and mobile LTE services to both residential and business customers across the island nations of Curaçao, St. Maarten, St.…
PHILIPSBURG — Families who are suffering to “make ends meet” are encouraged to visit the Ministry of Labor to acquire financial aid, said Minister of Health, Labor and Social Affairs Emil Lee. The Labor Minister was responding to questions about the increase of the minimum wage which is now seen as way below the living wages for employees. Increase of minimum wages have always been a topic of discussions in all the elections for the last 25 years. Lee pointed out that that it is presently the focus of ongoing discussions with the tripartite committee. This committee consists of the…
PHILIPSBURG — The introduction of a general health insurance policy seems to be the solution to all the health care woes facing the government. Minister responsible for health affairs Emil Lee said at Wednesday’s Council of Ministers press conference that everyone will have to fall under the general health insurance policy. However persons will have options to maintain their private insurance and pay a solidarity fee in the general health insurance as a solidarity contribution, which means that they will be helping in the community health care cost. “In order for persons to opt out of the general insurance the…
~ Suspected perpetrators in pre-trial detention ~ PHILIPSBURG/MARIGOT — The victim that was involved in a stabbing incident that occurred on the French side on the morning of Monday March 25th, 2019, does not want to press charges. This is according to a report published online by Soualigapost.com. The French prosecutor’s office however is still pressing on with a criminal case against the alleged perpetrators who have been placed in pre-trial detention and sent to Guadeloupe. On the Monday morning in question, a car pulled up on the curbside in front of the L’Express cafe restaurant (in the Bakery &…
