PHILIPSBURG--A committee that will include a St. Maarten Government minister and the Dutch State Secretary for Kingdom Relations (currently Ank Bijleveld-Schouten) will monitor tasks St. Maarten cannot perform fully when it becomes a country.

  This committee will also ensure that plans of approach formulated by St. Maarten to improve areas such as Justice and Finance are carried out. The monitoring committee will be in place for two years, with an extension of two more years if this becomes necessary.

  The General Kingdom Measure (not Consensus Kingdom Law) regulating the monitoring of these tasks will be presented to the Island Council on Monday for approval when an adjourned meeting continues.

  The Executive Council has also asked the Island Council to mandate that it sign off on any proposed minor adjustments/changes to the law.

  Opposition Democratic Party (DP) Island Council members had raised issues about this in the Permanent Committee for Constitutional Affairs (PCCA) because they believed there could be different interpretations of “minor adjustments/changes.”

  Constitutional Affairs Commissioner William Marlin pointed out in that meeting that the proposal was made to ensure that, if faced with a race against time to meet the deadline, as was the case for the draft constitution for country St. Maarten, the Executive Council would not have to bring a minor change back to PCCA or the Central Committee.

  DP members said in the meeting that they were willing to accept an invitation to meet with just a day’s notice, and were prepared even to meet on a Saturday or a Sunday to handle the issue.

  Commissioner Marlin said the Executive Council will take the DP’s position into consideration.