Islands' subsidies cut

September 23, 2010 11:14 AM

THE HAGUE--Dutch subsidies to Curaçao and St. Maarten will be cut next year and reduced from 73 million to zero euros in three years, it was stated in the 2011 budget (Miljoenennota) of the Dutch Government.

The annual budget "cooperation funds" will be reduced by 17 million euros in 2011, by 36.4 million euros in 2012 and will be zero in 2013, according to the budget that was presented by caretaker Minister of Finance Jan Kees de Jager on Tuesday.

Development funds like USONA and AMFO will not be subsidised by The Hague after 2012. No more money will go to the programme Education and Youth after that year. In addition, the Netherlands Antilles Safety Plan PVNA will cease as well at the end of 2012.

The annual subsidy for the Future Antillean Militia TAM will end in February 2011, while financial support for the Social Economic Initiative (SEI) will be terminated at the end of this year.

The gradual reduction of cooperation funds is the direct result of the new constitutional status of Curaçao and St. Maarten as autonomous countries within the Kingdom with effect from October 10 this year.

"In the new constitutional relations, the new countries will have an improved financial and administrative starting position due to the takeover of the debts, combined with financial supervision," stated caretaker Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin and State Secretary Ank Bijleveld-Schouten of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations in an explanation to the budget.

"The island governments will have a healthy financial basis and will be able to operate more effectively with the double layer of the Country the Netherlands Antilles gone. This will result in better public service," stated Hirsch Ballin and Bijleveld-Schouten.

On the other hand, expenditures of the different Dutch ministries in Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba are increasing because the ministries will become responsible for the service level on the three islands, which will become part of the Netherlands.

The Hague still will have to pay some 90 million euros per year to contribute to the Joint Court of Justice, the Coast Guard and the cabinets of the Governors.

Ten million per year has been reserved for technical assistance and/or supervision in Curaçao and St. Maarten. "That is because it is necessary to assist the new countries in the building up of their government apparatus and to see to it that it functions according to the set criteria for, for example, maintenance of law and order and the government administration," stated Hirsch Ballin and Bijleveld-Schouten. The 10-million-euro assistance has been reserved until 2015.

22 September 2010