Concerns in Senate on amendment to Charter

June 09, 2010 11:17 AM

THE HAGUE--The approval of the Kingdom Consensus Law to amend the Kingdom Charter so Curaçao and St. Maarten can attain country status is not expected to go down easily in the First Chamber.

An intense debate can be anticipated for July 6, when the Senate handles these law proposals in a plenary session.

Several parties are expressing concerns about the pending change to the Charter, necessary to accommodate the new constitutional relations in the Kingdom and the dismantling of the Country the Netherlands Antilles.

The Labour Party PvdA is one of those parties critical about the current law proposal to amend the Charter. PvdA is also voicing critical notes about "Plan B" of caretaker State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten to allow Curaçao and St. Maarten to become countries when they don't fully comply with all conditions.

"PvdA is questioning the fact that the amendment to the Charter allows the formation of the autonomous countries Curaçao and St. Maarten while these islands don't comply with the preset criteria. Wouldn't it have been better to take up in the Charter that Curaçao and St. Maarten become countries when they comply with the conditions?" stated PvdA Senator Marijke Linthorst in the party's input relating to the Kingdom Consensus Laws.

Linthorst said that even Dutch Government acknowledges that Curaçao and St. Maarten don't comply with the conditions. "The chosen solution is to have an AMvRB (General Measure of Governance, ed.) go into effect along with the changes to the Charter, in which the tasks that the autonomous countries are unable to execute will be guaranteed in cooperation agreements," she stated.

According to PvdA, the construction of these AMvRB's can easily lead to discussion and discontent. The party wondered what would happen if countries Curaçao or St. Maarten decided after a while that since it complied with all conditions, the AMvRB could be dropped, while the Dutch Government resolved otherwise. Linthorst asked whether the Dutch Government could force a prolonging of the AMvRB against the will of the involved countries.

PvdA criticised the Dutch cabinet for not using article 43 of the Charter to guarantee issues like improper governance and a failing system of maintaining law and order, especially in the case of Aruba and St. Maarten. "Why didn't the Kingdom Government make use of this article? Has the Kingdom Government not forsaken its guarantee function? Is government planning on taking the guarantee function serious in the new constitutional relations?" asked Linthorst.

PvdA "very much lamented" that the current constitutional reform process wasn't used to realise a "thorough revision" of the Charter and qualified this as a "missed opportunity." According to the party, it will be hard to realise a fundamental revision at a later time.

The First Chamber will be handling the Kingdom Consensus Laws in a plenary session July 6. On that day, the Senate will also vote on the law package that also includes other law proposals, like the Police Organisation and the Public Prosecutor's Office for the Countries Curaçao and St. Maarten and the BES islands Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius, which will become part of the Netherlands as 'public entities.' The Second Chamber already approved the Kingdom Consensus Laws in April this year.

On Tuesday, parties in the First Chamber submitted their input on the law package. Caretaker Minister of Justice Ernst Hirsch Ballin and State Secretary Bijleveld-Schouten have to respond to the questions and remarks before July 6. The liberal democratic VVD party and Socialist Party (SP) are also highly critical about amending the Charter at this stage.

9 June 2010