State Secretary Knops: “Fight against poverty is the responsibility of St. Maarten”

THE HAGUE — State Secretary Raymond Knops (Kingdom Relations) resolutely dismisses the notion that financial support for the inhabitants of St. Maarten is a form of suppression, racism and colonialism, as a petition the Parliament of Sint Maarten submitted to the United Nations suggest. Answering questions from Dutch Second Chamber parliamentarian More...

In a league of their own
By Hilbert Haar There is a strong similarity between the war on drugs and the fight against corruption and money laundering. Sure, if you throw enough resources at it, the occasional drugs transport will be intercepted More...

Knops: “St. Maarten has made too little progress”
THE HAGUE — State Secretary Raymond Knops (Kingdom Relations) and Minister Sander Dekker (Legal Protection) share concerns about the dismal conditions in St. Maarten’s detention system and say that improvements More...

St. Maarten detention system needs enhanced supervision
PHILIPSBURG — Enhanced supervision by the (European) Committee of Ministers is “of vital importance to ensure structural improvement of the St. Maarten detention system in line with international human More...

CDA-faction has doubts about St. Maarten’s reliability
THE HAGUE – Members of the CDA-faction in the Second Chamber have their doubts about St. Maarten’s commitment to the conditions attached to Dutch liquidity support. This appears from the minutes of a written More...

Open letter regarding financial support WINAIR
~ An open letter from Supervisory board member Mr. Hans de Jong regarding the financial support provided to WINAIR ~ The granting of financial liquidity support by the Dutch Government in the form of a $3 million More...

The about-face of Prime Minister Jacobs
By Hilbert Haar The government has finally done what it should have done months ago: sign an agreement with the kingdom about the conditions for the third tranche of liquidity support. While I have not seen the More...

COHO – change is coming but St. Maarten has to pay for it
PHILIPSBURG – The so-called country package is an integral part of the agreement Prime Minister Jacobs signed on Tuesday with State Secretary Knops about the establishment of COHO – the Caribbean reform and More...

Government bends over backwards for liquidity support
PHILIPSBURG / THE HAGUE – St. Maarten will receive the third tranche of liquidity support from the Netherlands – 61.2 million guilders ($34.2 million) – before the end of the year and the Netherlands More...

Frontal collision: no deal about liquidity support
PHILIPSBURG / THE HAGUE – The government caused a frontal collision with the Kingdom Council of Ministers on Friday that makes it highly questionable that there will be a deal about continued liquidity support More...