THE HAGUE--The St. Maarten delegation booked success at Tuesday's Political Steering Group (PSG) meeting in The Hague. The Department of Physical Planning and Management ROB and the Department of Legal Affairs will not be placed under supervision of the Kingdom Government.
Initially the Dutch delegation led by caretaker State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten wanted both departments placed under the General Measure of Kingdom Government AmvRB, which guarantees tasks that Countries Curaçao and St. Maarten cannot execute fully on their own.
After much debate, the St. Maarten delegation led by Commissioner of Constitutional Affairs William Marlin managed to convince the Dutch delegation that this measure was not needed and no plans of approach would have to be drafted for the departments in question.
Five areas already have been placed under the General Measure of Kingdom Government for St. Maarten: Police, the Immigration and Naturalisation Service IND, the Pointe Blanche prison, national detectives and the Census Office.
"Intentions were raised to include ROB and Legal Affairs in the plans of approach. But the State Secretary was convinced that this was not necessary," said Marlin after the PSG meeting. During one of the many postponements of the meeting, Marlin had a one-on-one talk with Bijleveld-Schouten.
Because the Department of Legal Affairs is short on personnel, the Dutch agreed to supplement personnel for a maximum of two years to enable the island to recruit its own personnel.
Marlin said St. Maarten had acknowledged in the past few weeks that the shortage of personnel was a "serious handicap." However, the island was not prepared to place this department under the AMvRB simply for that reason. St. Maarten has already recruited some persons to join the department by October 10.
The main problem for the Netherlands concerning ROB was the management and lack of personnel at this department. Marlin explained to the State Secretary that management had been replaced and that several new persons had been recruited. "She deemed that sufficient and there will be no plan of approach for ROB," said Marlin.
Bijleveld-Schouten said during the debate with the Second Chamber on Tuesday evening that she wanted to improve the situation at ROB, to realise a more transparent structure and a new management at the department.
The Curaçao delegation wasn't successful during the PSG. Curaçao's new Executive Council wanted to have the right to terminate a number of Kingdom Consensus Laws in due time. Under no circumstances was the Dutch delegation willing to accommodate that wish.
The Dutch delegation didn't consider it an opportune time to come with such a radical request, two days before the Final Round Table Conference RTC. Curaçao's demand led to irritation among the other delegations, because the PSG couldn't be concluded in time for the critical debate in the Second Chamber on the Implementation Decree for the amendment of the Charter on Tuesday evening.
Advisors to the delegations didn't manage to come to a compromise during the lengthy postponement of the PSG. During that time, the State Secretary also went to the Second Chamber for a debate on the formation of a new Dutch cabinet. Meetings between the Dutch and Antillean delegations lasted until late last night.
