THE HAGUE--The target date October 10, 2010, to dismantle the Netherlands Antilles and kick off Countries Curaçao and St. Maarten is definitely passé, because the law proposal to amend the Kingdom Charter will not be handled in the Dutch Parliament's Second Chamber at this stage.
Second Chamber Permanent Committee for Antillean and Aruban Affairs NAAZ Chairman Willibrord van Beek concluded that 10-10-10 was unattainable after consulting members of the different parties in his committee. "Forget 10-10-10. More feasible would be 11-11-11," he said on Tuesday.
The NAAZ Committee is greatly divided over whether to declare the legislation proposals of the constitutional reform process "controversial" and cease the handling of these laws, or to continue the legislation trajectory as planned.
One thing was certain: the Charter cannot be amended now that the Balkenende IV Cabinet has caretaker status and new elections have been called for June 9. "It is unthinkable that the Charter would be amended under a caretaker cabinet. The Charter ranks higher than the Constitution, so that is impossible," said Van Beek. Constitutional experts agree on this.
Even if the NAAZ Committee decided in its meeting next week Tuesday that it would continue handling all the other legislation proposals for Countries Curaçao and St. Maarten and for the BES islands Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba as "public entities" of the Netherlands, the target date of October 10, 2010 would remain unattainable.
The amendment to the Charter is necessary to dismantle the Netherlands Antilles and establish Curaçao and St. Maarten as countries and the BES islands as "public entities."
"That is a pity for the process and painful for the Netherlands Antilles, but that is the reality. It certainly is not a matter of unwillingness from our side," said Van Beek, who hoped to decide today, Wednesday, whether to handle the first package of BES laws on Thursday, March 4.
The majority of the parties – Christian Democratic Party CDA, Labour Party PvdA, Democrats D66, green left party GroenLinks and Christian Union (CU) – are in favour of handling the BES laws next week Thursday. The liberal democratic VVD party has no objections for "practical reasons." But the Socialist Party (SP) and the Party for Freedom PVV are against. Chances are great that Van Beek will overrule these two parties and allow the March 4 meeting to continue.
Van Beek has sent a letter to the members of the Committee, asking them to indicate by next week Tuesday whether they agree to continue the plenary handling of the first BES law package. He also asked if the members were willing to meet with a delegation from Bonaire's government next week.
Van Beek further wanted to know if the members considered the Kingdom Consensus Laws and the amendment to the Charter controversial. Lastly, he asked the members whether the Committee's visit to Curaçao and St. Maarten planned for March 6-14 should continue.
Member of Parliament (MP) Johan Remkes (VVD) said on Tuesday that he didn't think the Kingdom Consensus Laws to amend the Charter and regulate the system of maintaining law and order should be passed before the elections. "We have principle objections to this," he said. He added that the doubts in the Second Chamber about whether St. Maarten would be able to function as a country had not diminished since the December 2008 motion.
According to Remkes, declaring legislation proposals "controversial" partly depended on State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten and whether she was willing to accommodate the Second Chamber in its objections. But, he added, "I don't see that happening."
Remkes stressed that the State Secretary had committed to 10-10-10, not the Second Chamber. "I doubt whether October 10 was attainable even if the cabinet hadn't fallen," he said.
MP Hero Brinkman (PVV) had a short reply to Van Beek's request: "The entire Antilles dossier is controversial, except the referendum in Bonaire."
MP Ronald van Raak (SP) said a number of legislation proposals were controversial. "Those can't be handled before the elections, and that will definitely not happen. The question is whether to handle the other laws, when you know that they will be put away in a folder," he said.
MP Cynthia Ortega-Martijn (CU) didn't think the Netherlands Antilles should be duped by the Dutch cabinet crisis. She made a case Tuesday to continue handling the legislation. She said that the Kingdom Movement of Persons Law and the Kingdom Visa Law should be declared controversial because of the objections from the side of the Netherlands Antilles.
Ortega-Martijn said her party didn't consider the law to amend the Charter controversial. She stressed that the process should not be stagnated. The working visit to the islands starting next week can continue, and the Bonaire delegation is most welcome, in her opinion.
