Oyster Pond
What to do about the border dispute in Oyster Pond? That question is not just on the mind of Prime Minister William Marlin but also on that of many Members of Parliament. Nobody seems to know what to do, even though the conflict seems to have escalated after Préfète Déléguée Anne Labies declared in writing to Marlin that she considers the contested piece of water to be French.
That won’t do, of course and the French ought to back off. The thing is, they don’t, knowing darn well that they are, for the time being wrong.
The matter will have to be dealt with on a higher level, by the respective ministries of foreign affairs of France and the Netherlands. There is little perspective that these talks will yield a solution.
Not for nothing the dispute has been shoved around like an unwanted baby for years by respective ministers. The decision to maintain the status quo is a typical weak interim moment that does not deserve the title solution.
This is however not a minor thing. When Argentina went in the eighties for the Falkland Islands, the British government did not hesitate too long before it went to war over it. But yeah, the British had Margaret Thatcher and the Netherlands has to make do with Bert Koenders and, ultimately Mark Rutte.
It is unimaginable that the Netherlands would send the marines into Oyster Pond to call the French to order. We haven’t reached that stage yet, nor does anybody want to go there.
In the meantime, Captain Oliver’s is caught in the middle. The business is suffering and who is going to pony up to cover these damages? That touchy topic has not been brought to the table yet, and it does not look like the entrepreneur will find a willing ear in Paris.
So in the end it is not impossible that the business will set its sight on the government in Philipsburg for compensation. After all, the government has a duty to protect its citizens and if St. Maarten (or the Netherlands) aren’t doing anything, they fall short of their responsibilities.
Somebody will have to foot that bill and our best guess at this moment is that either Philipsburg or The Hague will have to pay, even if there is consensus that the French are the bad guys in this story. The Hague could always go on a higher level after compensation from the French government. Leaving Captain Oliver’s out in the cold to carry the can does not seem fair at all.
Happy St. Maarten Day.
