SXMElections.com

THE HAGUE--Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk remained mum on the outcome of Friday’s Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting and a possible decision regarding the Integrity Chamber for St. Maarten.

Plasterk would not confirm or deny whether a decision had been taken to impose the Integrity Chamber for St. Maarten through a General Measure of the Kingdom Government (“Algemene Maatregel van Rijksbestuur” AMvRB), a move that had been anticipated.

“I have very little to say on this matter at this time. I believe it is better at this time not to go into details. This has to be done carefully,” said Plasterk, as he emerged from the meeting Friday afternoon. He provided no clarity whatsoever to the waiting journalists as to what had or had not been decided in the meeting, of which the agenda and contents of what has been discussed always remain confidential.

Only last week, the minister had been clear in a debate with the Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament that St. Maarten would need to stick to the May 24 agreement with The Hague to set up an Integrity Chamber.

Asked about that statement in the Second Chamber, Plasterk said that indeed there was an agreement between Philipsburg and The Hague about the establishing of an Integrity Chamber for St. Maarten, an independent entity that will supervise and tackle integrity issues within the St. Maarten Government.

The agreement stated that the St. Maarten Parliament was to approve the law proposal to establish the Integrity Chamber no later than June 30. “It was agreed that this would happen before July 1, and that date has passed,” he said.

He did not say what would be the consequences of missing this deadline and of the fact that the St. Maarten Parliament had deferred the handling of the law proposal until after the summer recess. “I will not say anything about that at this time,” he said.

Reports were that the Kingdom Council of Ministers would again start the process of invoking higher supervision via an AMvRB, a process that had been ceased after the May 24 agreement. It was likely that the decision would be taken on Friday, as this was the last meeting of the Kingdom Government before the summer recess.

There were also reports that the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT might advise the Kingdom Government to give St. Maarten an instruction based on the Kingdom Law on Financial Supervision. This had to do with the fact that St. Maarten had not managed to reach an accord with Social and Health Insurance SZV and General Pension Fund APS of St. Maarten regarding its government’s debt owed to these institutions. Plasterk would not say anything on a possible instruction.

Plasterk said “most subjects” would return in a future meeting of the Kingdom Government, in any case after the summer recess. He confirmed that he had been in contact with St. Maarten Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson this week via video conferencing, among other ways. He would not say whether negotiations with Philipsburg were ongoing.

Neither was any press release issued by the Kingdom Council of Ministers, as is usually the case when an important decision is taken. The only release issued on Friday had to do with the Committee for Financial Supervision for Aruba, the CAFT.

The Kingdom Government approved a proposal of Aruba Prime Minister Mike Eman to appoint Robert W. Croes, a member of Aruba Bank’s Supervisory Board of Directors, as the member representing Aruba on the CAFT. The appointment will go into effect on August 1.

Croes’ appointment means that the CAFT is now complete and can start the process of supervising and guiding Aruba’s budgetary process. The two other members of the CAFT are Age Bakker (Chairman) and member Sybilla Dekker on behalf of the Netherlands. Both are already members of the CFT for Curaçao, St. Maarten, and for Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.