THE HAGUE – The draft kingdom law Caribbean Reform and Development entity (COHO) violates the Kingdom Charter according to the Kingdom Council of State (KCoS), René Zwart reports on dossierkoninkrijksrelaties.nl. Zwart has read the advice of the KCoS and bases his article on notes he was allowed to make. The advice is not public yet.
The Council of State advises State Secretary Raymond Knops not to submit the draft law in its current form to the parliaments of the four kingdom countries because it is not up to par.
Zwart reports that his sources qualify the advice as “painful” because it agrees with Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten that the draft law affects the autonomy of the countries.
However, the Council stands behind the objective of the draft law: making the economies and public finances healthy again, strengthening public governance and improving the situation of the population on the islands. The advice notes that it is “obvious” that the Netherlands attached conditions to financial support.
But the Council describes State Secretary Knops’ approach as “inappropriate” and it doubts that this will lead to the desired outcome. “Putting far-reaching authorities in the hands of a small army of Dutch civil servants will sooner weaken than strengthen the autonomy and decision-making powers of the countries,” Zwart read in the advice.
The Council also criticizes the division of authorities between the COHO and the local governments and between the COHO and financial supervisor Cft. “The COHO has far-reaching powers that also belong to the governments of the countries.” The Council questions the COHO’s independence because it operates under the direction of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations.
The position of the state secretary is another point of criticism: he is placed above the COHO but also above the local governments. Furthermore, the advice points out, the Netherlands has a lot of maneuvering space to change conditions for continued support unilaterally.
The Caribbean countries have little to say about the composition of the COHO-board. “That is not good for public and political support,” the Council warns.
The Council of State sent its advice to Knops on March 3; the prime ministers of Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten received it around March 19.
What happens next is up to the Kingdom Council of Ministers. According to Zwart, there are two options: ignore the advice or fundamentally adjust the draft in a way that it no longer violates the Kingdom Charter.
The Council of State-advice only becomes public once the government submits the final draft law to the parliaments of the kingdom countries.
In St. Maarten, the first reactions to the article on dossierskoninkrijksrelaties.nl are more or less euphoric.
The Pro Soualiga Foundation, a mouthpiece of the United People’s party (UP) declared the COHO in a press statement “dead on arrival” though it also notes that the Council of State has advised “not to present the draft in its current form to the Second Chamber.” The foundation is also of the opinion that “the Dutch government is now obliged to negotiate on a more equal footing.”
The report about the advice is apparently sufficient for Pro Soualiga to cry victory and to declare that it “brings an end to the court action Pro Soualiga was waging to stop COHO.”
That could be a bit premature because it remains to be seen how the kingdom government is going to handle the advice. As Zwart points out in his report, the kingdom could simply ignore the advice (or read something in it nobody else has seen yet). That is however not very likely because the Dutch government usually takes Council of State-advice on draft legislation very serious.
The more likely option is therefore that State Secretary Knops will look for ways to overcome the objections the Council has expressed in its advice. This could potentially result in a better deal for the islands. But as things stand now, the COHO is certainly not dead on arrival as Pro Soualiga wants us to believe. Instead, Knops’ reform and development vehicle is in for a serious make-over.
Mini market owner Michael Granger, who is the public relations officer for independent MP Christophe Emmanuel, quoted his principal as saying that “the government is an embarrassment onto itself” though it remains unclear why this is so. Emmanuel labels the COHO as “a heavy-handed, colonial construct by the Dutch, supported and pushed upon the people of St. Maarten by the prime minister and by the MPs who support the country package.”
Related article: Emmanuel on COHO: I told you so
Gerhard Hoogers, a professor in constitutional and administrative law at Groningen University, is not surprised by the advice from the Council of State. “I would almost say: quelle surprise. Of course, I have said already since the summer more or less what the Council of State now writes. That is not a big surprise: every fool could have known that what The Hague is expecting from the Caribbean countries violates the fundamental principles of our kingdom; every nutcase, except the Secretary of State and the majority of the House of Representatives. Why don’t we talk again and take the Charter serious for a change?”
Related articles:
Raad van State: Rijkswet COHO strijdig met statuut
Review of the advice of the Raad van State (in Dutch)
Emmanuel on COHO: I told you so
Press statement Pro Soualiga Foundation
Opinion piece: Dead or alive
