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PHILIPSBURG--The constitutional change process of the Netherlands Antilles is a mess, member of Aruba’s Council of State Hubert Maduro said in an interview with Dutch World Radio.
He said he believed the Netherlands was approaching the process too much from a judicial point of view, while the human aspect of it should be taken more into account.
“We entered a state of annulment. At this moment there is no hope that we will make something better out of it than the demolition we already caused. There is no vision of how things must continue,” Maduro said.
He said he believed politicians in The Hague should focus much more on finding solutions. “We should be treated as Dutch citizens and solutions should be sought, but we must deal with each other as human beings. We have to discuss the things that we can do together.”
Maduro referred to the model of the European Union as an example. Personally, he is not a supporter of the separate status model. “It doesn’t matter how you look at it. The fact is that it’s six islands that have been together for a long time. The restructuring of the Netherlands Antilles has failed.
“The intelligent people in The Hague have been taken into the process. The only thing they could have come up with is to divide the islands into two separate groups. After the reorganisation it will be a mess.”
He believes Aruba should be more actively involved in the process. “As a country within the Kingdom, Aruba has the task to be more involved. Until now it has stood on the sideline and observed what has been going on, because the island’s point of view was that its status would not be touched.”
Maduro expressed serious doubts whether St. Maarten could obtain a separate status and said he believed the Aruba government had to point this out. He said St. Maarten was a small island with not enough governmental power and Aruba was well aware of what this meant.
“There is only a small group of people in St. Maarten to pull the wagon,” he said. He said he had made his doubts known on several occasions before, but no one would listen to him.
With respect to the plea of former Dutch Minister of Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations Johan Remkes, currently a Member of the Second Chamber for the VVD party, to create a commonwealth of nations, Maduro said it was “interesting.”
However, he does not consider the idea very serious. Remkes presented his idea last week Thursday during a debate of the Permanent Committee for Aruban and Antillean Affairs of the Dutch Second Chamber.
He said that in light of the constitutional change process being in danger of coming to a complete standstill, the VVD party had thought of alternatives. Remkes said he believed the autonomous status for Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten should be reconsidered, as well as the public entity for the BES islands Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. He opts for a status of special municipality or, what he personally prefers, a variant of the commonwealth of nations model.
Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles Emily de Jongh-Elhage does not believe in Remkes’ option of a commonwealth of nations. She said changing the process in its entirety would mean putting aside the November 2, 2006, Final Accord, which could have a negative effect on the agreements made for 90 per cent debt relief by the Dutch Government.
She believes more in the option of phased implementation of the new statuses, which option Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten has asked the Council of State to investigate.
The findings of the direction group that has been assessing the constitutional change process thus far will be influential for a new phased plan that has to be decided on during the scheduled political consultation in May.
The Prime Minister lamented that the debt relief would not start in time anymore because St. Maarten wants to discuss the agreements made in January, mainly in the field of good corporate governance.
“Everyone was glad in January with the accord signed and hoped that the debt cancellation could have commenced in July, but now St. Maarten wants to go back on the agreement,” she Prime Minister said. She hopes the issue will be resolved during the political consultation planned for May.
