Is the Constitutional Court such a good idea?
By Hilbert Haar St. Maarten’s judicial system contains a unique institution: the Constitutional Court. No other country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands has such a court. Is that good or bad? First of all it is good to remember that local politicians were soundly asleep when they approved a huge pile of legislation during the last meeting of the More...
Political pipedreams
By Hilbert Haar The Central Plan Bureau in the Netherlands routinely analyses election programs of political parties before an election takes place. Such analyses show whether these programs are financially feasible, More...
A flawed verdict highlighted
In September, GEBE, first alone and then together with the members of its supervisory board, filed lawsuits against the company’s shareholder Country St. Maarten based on tort. More specifically, because Country More...
COHO: No choice at all
By Hilbert Haar The Kingdom Council of State has finalized its advice about the amended draft kingdom law COHO (Caribbean Organization for Reform and Development) but at the moment of this writing it was not published More...
Online sales-tax: a fata morgana
By Hilbert Haar The idea to introduce a 7.5 percent tax on online purchases has triggered many questions. According to Minister Ardwell Irion (Finance) such a tax would “level the playing field” and encourage More...
Useless political saber rattling
By Hilbert Haar The history of St. Maarten’s Integrity Chamber is an interesting one. Parliamentarians bickered endlessly over the establishment of this institution and when they finally agreed with it in August More...
Financial chaos
By Hilbert Haar If you managed your household finances the way the government deals with its taxpayer-funded financial responsibilities you would probably have a hell of a row with your better half. Related article: More...
Empty promises
By Hilbert Haar Did the Court in First Instance rule in favor of Justice Minister Anna Richardson? Or did it rule in favor of the unions? Politicians have a talent for calling something that is actually black, More...
A regrettable decision
By Hilbert Haar Well, well. The politicians that have been bashing airport CEO Brian Mingo for months have gotten their way – for now. Down the road the decision by the airport-holding to terminate its contract More...
The press release-parliamentarian
By Hilbert Haar The press release-parliamentarian, aka independent MP Christophe Emmanuel, is at it again, together with his public relation officer, mini market-owner Michael Granger. In his umpteenth press release, More...
