Bijleveld rushes Parliament as 10-10-10 deadline approaches

February 11, 2010 3:40 AM

THE HAGUE--Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten is increasing pressure on the Dutch Parliament's Second Chamber to handle draft legislation for the new constitutional relations in the Kingdom.

Members of Parliament are not amused.

The reason for the dismayed reactions was a letter Bijleveld-Schouten sent to the Second Chamber on Tuesday, urging Parliament to speed up the handling of legislation. She indicated that she fancied a plenary handling, including voting, in the first week of March, for the first package of draft legislation for the BES islands Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.
To save time, she announced that she would take out the fiscal aspects of the first BES Adaptation Law and add these parts to the BES Fiscal System Implementation Law, so "nothing stands in the way" of handling the Adaptation Law in the first week of March. The fiscal legislation could be handled in April.

Consensus laws
The State Secretary also applied pressure regarding the approval of the several Kingdom consensus laws. She argued that documentation of these law proposals, including the amendment of the Kingdom Charter, had gone to the Second Chamber mid-January. "This means that the package is ready for plenary handling," she stated.
Bijleveld-Schouten objected to handling the two Kingdom consensus legislation packages separately, as suggested by the Second Chamber's Permanent Committee for Antillean and Aruban Affairs NAAZ in late January. NAAZ wanted to handle the four Kingdom consensus laws, dealing with the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Joint Court of Justice, Police Forces of the new entities and the Council for the Maintenance of Law and Order, in late March.

Undesirable
The Committee wanted to handle the Kingdom consensus laws regulating Financial Supervision, the Governors, and the amendment to the Charter, in early April. That planning didn't suit Bijleveld-Schouten. She noted that the new Antillean Parliament would sit on March 26, and contended that handling the Kingdom consensus laws in two separate packages (late March and early April) was "undesirable."
Because it concerns consensus laws, the Parliaments of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba have a right to participate in the meetings of the Dutch Parliament when these law proposals are being handled. Bijleveld-Schouten urged the Second Chamber to handle the Kingdom consensus laws in one package in the second and third weeks of March, or the third and fourth weeks of that same month.
She further noted that there should be a weekend between the first term of Parliament and the first term of Government, so possible amendments and differences could be discussed with the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba in the Kingdom Council of Ministers. She stressed that voting on these laws should take place soon after handling.

Charter
The State Secretary was especially direct about the legislation to amend the Charter, which is needed to effectuate the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles and to establish the new entities in the Kingdom. This legislation proposal has the longest procedure, as it also has to go through the Parliaments of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
"That is why handling this law proposal should be given preference. In case you decide to handle this legislation proposal in April, the transition date of October 10, 2010 becomes very unrealistic. You can understand that I consider this highly undesirable," she stated.

Some Members of Parliament responded angrily to the State Secretary's letter.

NAAZ Committee Chairman Willibrord van Beek has called an extra meeting for next Tuesday to discuss the State Secretary's letter and to talk about the upcoming trip to Curaçao and St. Maarten.

11 February 2010