Unity?
The island celebrated St. Martin/St. Maarten Day yesterday in a mood of relative uncertainty. While the French side has been dealing with serious economic problems resulting in part from the high euro compared to the US dollar for some time, the Dutch side is currently faced with a political crisis at a time when it is dealing with crucial issues such as the impact of the current global financial-economic situation on tourism and finalising the process of constitutional change.
As usual on the day the two-nation island celebrates the peaceful coexistence based on the Treaty of Concordia, terms such as unity, togetherness and cooperation came up once again. While they mostly referred to relations between the two sides, some people also translated them to the current situation in Philipsburg.
They reason that certainly under the current circumstances it would be best for the Democratic Party (DP) and National Alliance (NA) to work together in the general interest. One of the arguments is that even if now “independent” former DP councilman Louie Laveist supports NA for a minimal majority, that support would be lost again were he to be jailed based on the current forgery investigation against him.
It appears, however, that a sort of “national government” of the two parties is highly unlikely, in part because of past experience in cooperation talks and because of the bitter election campaign battle between them. If so, that’s regrettable, because it could have provided some much-needed stability in government.
The word now is that another DP council member and perhaps more than one will go “independent” as well, to support and be part of a new NA-led Executive Council. If that is indeed the case, one can only hope it will all be over quickly, so that “The Friendly Island” can in earnest get back to addressing some of the major challenges it faces.
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