THE HAGUE--With 92 for and 58 votes against, the Dutch Parliament's Second Chamber rejected on Thursday the request of the Socialist Party (SP), Party for Freedom PVV and liberal democratic VVD party to declare the Kingdom Consensus Laws "controversial."

This means that the Kingdom Consensus Laws needed to dismantle the Country the Netherlands Antilles and realise new constitutional relations for the islands will be handled as planned.

In an attempt to keep these laws from being handled under the current caretaker government, the three large opposition parties SP, PVV and VVD had asked to declare controversial the Police and Public Prosecutor's Laws for Curaçao, St. Maarten and the BES islands Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, the Regulation for the Governors of Curaçao and St. Maarten, and the law to amend the Kingdom Charter. The one-member faction of Rita Verdonk and the reformed SGP party had voted along with them.

SP and PVV had also proposed the same treatment for the Kingdom Consensus Laws to establish the Joint Court and the Council for Maintenance of Law and Order, the law on financial supervision, and the establishment of maritime borders between Curaçao and Bonaire, and between St. Maarten and Saba. VVD had no problems with handling these laws.

Christian Democratic Party CDA, Labour Party PvdA, green left party GroenLinks, Christian Union (CU), Democrats D66 and Party for Animals PvD all voted to continue handling the package of Kingdom Consensus Laws and to proceed with the general process of constitutional reform of the Netherlands Antilles.

CDA, PvdA, GroenLinks and CU contended that the Antillean constitutional reform process had been in the making for several years, with agreements dating back to 2006, and the Netherlands needed to stick to its side of the deal. "There was already an accord between the previous cabinet and the Netherlands Antilles," said MP Ernst Cramer (CU).

Irresponsible

"There are multi-annual agreements, and third parties are involved. It would be irresponsible to delay this. We have to proceed. We want the debt reorganisation to continue, also for a better future of the people on the islands," said MP Ineke van Gent (GroenLinks).

"The main lines were already prepared by former cabinets, by Ministers Alexander Pechtold (D66) and Atzo Nicolaï (VVD)," said MP Liesbeth Spies (CDA), who pointed out that there was also an "urgent appeal" by the Netherlands Antilles to handle the laws.

Member of Parliament (MP) Hero Brinkman (PVV) said the Dutch voter never had a chance to express his/her opinion on the Antillean constitutional reform laws and the accompanying debt reorganisation of 1.7 billion euros, and therefore the entire Antillean dossier needed to be put on hold until after the June 9 Dutch Parliamentary elections. He said the voters were being "treated with contempt."

Election programme

Spies (CDA) contradicted the statement that the Dutch voter had never had a chance to be heard on the constitutional reform process and debt reorganisation. "It was part of the 2007 CDA election programme. We did seek the opinion of the voter in the last elections," said Spies.

MP Diederik Samson (PvdA) seconded Spies by saying that the October 2006 (with the BES islands) and November 2006 (with Curaçao and St. Maarten) Final Accords were sealed prior to the previous elections in 2007. He noted that the Antillean constitutional reform process was part of these elections in which PVV participated.

Samson said that, for his party, there were two exceptions to the unwritten rule of honouring a request by a substantial minority to declare certain law proposals and policy documents controversial. The wish of the minority didn't necessarily have to be honoured when the request could "unnecessarily hurt" the relationship with another country, or when Government's finances were jeopardised. He said the first exception applied to the Netherlands Antilles.

Blackmail

Brinkman (PVV) accused PvdA of being "blackmailed" by the Netherlands Antilles. "They are saying we'll be very mad at you if this doesn't proceed." Samson pointed out that the debt reorganisation was "current policy" and would continue.

MP Johan Remkes (VVD) said there were two basic rules in democracy: the majority ruled, and the majority would give consideration to the minorities. "That can't be messed with," he said. Remkes called it "peculiar" that Parliament didn't proceed with changes to the Dutch Constitution, but that it did approve handling an amendment to the Kingdom Charter, which is a law of higher order than the Constitution.

Remkes also said it was curious that Parliament wanted to proceed with processing the Police and Public Prosecutor's Office laws which, according to him, contained "disputable" aspects. He said the legislation process would not be completed before the target date of October 10, 2010. "I'll bet a good bottle of wine that we won't make that," he said. Nevertheless, Parliament is "forcing through entire laws in a late afternoon."

As for St. Maarten being ready for 10-10-10, Remkes wondered what had happened to the December 2008 motion, supported by the entire Second Chamber, that St. Maarten could not attain country status until the island had proved that it was ready to assume this new responsibility in practice.

Automatic pilot

"There was a lot of concern over whether St. Maarten would be ready in time. Apparently those concerns have blown over," said Remkes. He suggested the Dutch Government and State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten were not sticking to the November 2006 Final Accord. "They are following another course – one where St. Maarten attains its new status on automatic pilot," he said.

MP Ronald van Raak (SP) said his party had a "clear motivation" to ask for a delay in handling the Antillean constitutional reform laws. "We also want debt reorganisation, good governance, proper finances, and investments in education, health care and safety. But 10-10-10 puts our back against the wall. Some 1.7 billion euros will be badly invested and proper finances and good governance will not be in place. I can't take that responsibility," he said.

Van Raak tried to convince his colleagues that the majority in Parliament needed to have consideration for the substantial minority, also because this would show respect for a new Parliament. "It is respectful not to have the new Parliament faced with a done deal," he said.

Handling of the Kingdom Consensus Laws starts on April 9 and will conclude on April 20 with the voting. Delegations of the Aruban and Antillean Parliaments will be present for these meetings.