Room to breathe
By stating that a new target date for the constitutional changes to take effect has to be set during the political consultations on May 22 (see Thursday’s paper), Constitutional Affairs Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams indicated for the first time that she accepted the idea that December 15, 2008, was no longer viable. Realistically speaking, it seems clear that is indeed the case and to maintain a date that is unattainable does not make much sense or inspire much-needed confidence in the process.
Already the year 2010 is being mentioned, also because that’s when the term of the current Antillean parliament ends. At that time St. Maarten’s current Island Council will also have been in office three of the four years for which it was elected.
Postponing the date will also give more time to prepare the election of a 15-seat St. Maarten Parliament that will take office when the new status takes effect. Holding such an election this year while the current Island Council took office less than a year ago would not seem fair to the current members and those who democratically elected them for a four-year term.
Time is also needed to settle some of the outstanding issues, such as corporate governance. St. Maarten will have to take into account that if no agreement is reached, it could well find itself sidelined in the process of constitutional change and risk the Netherlands imposing certain measures in this regard.
In addition, there are some socio-economic developments that require urgent attention, including the rising prices of oil and other products and the effects of the financial-economic problems in the US.
Reports coming from the Tourism Investment Conference in Trinidad (see Thursday’s paper) indicate that it may not be all that bad, as Americans may choose to vacation closer and invest outside the US, while the Caribbean has become more attractive to Europeans because of the high euro. But it was also stated that, for example, the condo hotel has fallen out of favour because Americans are now minding their finances more and to a large extent the current accommodations recently built or being built in St. Maarten are such vacation homes.
The ideas of concentrating more on the European market is in any case a good one, certainly for the Dutch side, because of the low US dollar to which the Antillean guilder is tied. How to attract more Europeans to the island is a matter for the tourism experts, but a serious effort to do so should in any case be made sooner than later.
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