Kingdom Council approves Curaçao - St. Maarten Constitutions

June 01, 2010 5:41 AM

THE HAGUE--The Kingdom Council of Ministers has ignored the objections of the Antillean Government to the proposed Kingdom Visa Law. During its meeting on Friday the Council approved the draft Constitutions of Curaçao and St. Maarten.

The Council had pressed the Executive Councils of the two islands a week earlier to make a few minor adjustments to their respective draft constitutions. After the adjustments were made the Council decided that it had a "positive feeling" about the drafts, which will now go back to the respective Island Councils for approval, after which they will again go to the Kingdom Council of Ministers for the final approval.

Now that the Kingdom Council has ignored the Antillean Government's objections to the proposed Kingdom Visa Law, the law proposal will be sent to the Dutch Second Chamber and the Parliaments of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.

Antillean Minister Plenipotentiary in The Hague Marcel van der Plank said on Monday that it was possible that the Antillean Government would propose an amendment to the Kingdom Visa Law which regulates the dispensation of visas for foreigners in the Kingdom.

"It is possible that an amendment will be submitted to change the law proposal, but the Antillean Government first has to take a decision on that," said Van der Plank, who had requested a so-called "continued consultation" during last Friday's Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting to emphasise the Antillean objections.

The Dutch Government is of the opinion that the dispensation of visas to foreigners is a responsibility of the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, not the individual countries in the Kingdom. The Central Government in Willemstad thinks it is a matter of the individual countries to decide who enters the country.

The additional consultation requested by Van der Plank didn't yield any positive result for the Netherlands Antilles and no agreement was reached.

"There is no dispute, but there is a difference of opinion. The Antillean Government is of the opinion that based on Article 38 of the Kingdom Charter decisions should be taken based on agreement. But the Dutch Government maintains that Article 3 of the Charter is applicable, making this an affair of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs," stated Van der Plank.

The draft Kingdom Visa Law will now be sent to the three Parliaments in the Kingdom. The only remaining option for the Antilles is to submit an amendment, an instrument that is used very seldom. It is possible that by the time the Second Chamber handles the draft law, the Netherlands Antilles will have been dismantled. If that is the case, it will be up to the Countries Curaçao and St. Maarten to decide whether they will submit an amendment.

Initially the Netherlands had opted for a national visa law, but later decided otherwise. "The world has changed in the meantime and the international society demands a stricter supervision of the movement of foreigners," stated a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson.

31 May 2010