Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
THE HAGUE--Delegations of the Parliaments of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten are resolute to conclude the Inter-Parliamentary Kingdom Consultations IPKO this week with a solution for the design of a dispute regulation (geschillenregeling).
"We want to get this solved for once and for all. More and more things are getting stuck in a dilemma in the relations between the Kingdom partners," said Member of the St. Maarten Parliament and Chairperson of Parliament's Kingdom Affairs and Inter-Parliamentary Relations Committee Sarah Wescot-Williams (Democratic Party ((DP))) on Monday.
The three Dutch Caribbean Parliaments held tripartite meetings in The Hague on Monday in preparation for the IPKO which starts on Wednesday. The three Parliaments seem adamant to have the discussion on the format and scope of a dispute regulation resolved at the IPKO. The issue is on the agenda for the second day of tripartite meetings today, Tuesday.
The Netherlands wants to limit the influence of this regulation, which, in the view of some political parties, should not be binding. The countries have questioned that approach. "If it has limited powers and its advice is not binding, then what use is it?" Wescot-Williams told The Daily Herald.
President of the Curaçao Parliament Mike Franco confirmed the urgency of settling the dispute arrangement this week. "We got quite far on the dispute regulation during the previous IPKO. We HOPE to present an outline during this IPKO which could also receive the approval of the Dutch Parliament," he said.
The possible role of a Constitutional Court in a dispute regulation came up at Monday's tripartite meeting. Only St. Maarten has a Constitutional Court, anchored in the country's Constitution. Aruba and Curaçao have expressed interest in such a Court.
The three Parliamentary delegations discussed the setting up of a cooperation format in a smaller setting to look at a possible role for a Constitutional Court in a dispute regulation. This cooperation format could be extended later on and take on a more structural form to serve as a platform for the three Parliaments to discuss certain topics outside the realm of the IPKO instead of discussing joint topics only at the occasional tripartite meetings prior to the IPKO.
Also discussed at Monday's tripartite meeting was the use of the Regulation of the Governor by the Kingdom Council of Ministers to give an instruction and the screening of candidate ministers in the Kingdom according to a joint norm system.
Countries in the Kingdom have to indicate at this week's IPKO what system, laws and norms they have in place for the screening of candidate ministers. The countries all agree that it is important to set a joint norm system. Political parties of the individual countries were requested to give their input. The only political party to do so for St. Maarten was the (DP).
Monday's tripartite meeting focused mainly on the feedback of the different work groups that were installed at earlier IPKOs, such as economic opportunities, education, energy, integrity in government, health care, youth and youngsters, and discrimination. The input of the Parliaments in the work groups was assessed and the chairpersons of the work groups presented updates at Monday's meeting.
One of the more urgent subjects was education, more specifically the Dutch Caribbean students in the Netherlands. There are great concerns about the repayment of the study debts by former/graduated students. Repayment has to take place in euros.
The Parliaments are striving for an arrangement to make it possible to repay in the local, island currency. However, no solution has been reached so far. Apparently there is limited cooperation of the Dutch study financing organisation DUO in this process.
"We want to have a timeline for a solution and a deadline, because we need a break on this," said the leader of the St. Maarten delegation, Member of Parliament (MP) Leona Marlin-Romeo.
The brain drain that is caused by graduated students from the islands deciding to stay in the Netherlands to repay their study debt is a big problem, said Marlin-Romeo.
According to Wescot-Williams, St. Maarten students are also in need of a help desk.
The delegations further discussed the need to tackle discrimination on all levels, also gender-related, and discrimination in the labour market. St. Maarten pointed out that it was important to deal with discrimination in the labour market against illegal immigrants, disabled persons, youngsters and people over 45.
Today, Tuesday, the delegations will discuss, among other things, the free movement of goods and persons in the Kingdom, the possibility to appeal tax cases, and three subjects that were placed on the agenda at St. Maarten's request: the nationality research, the testament register and the relation of small island developing states (SIDS) regarding the current development policy applied in the Kingdom.
