Initiated by VVD Member of the Second Chamber André Bosman, the proposal sets a number of conditions before a person from Aruba, Curaçao or St. Maarten can register in a municipality of The Netherlands. These criteria are: sufficient mastering of the Dutch language, sufficient means to support oneself in The Netherlands, a starting qualification that connects with the Dutch labour market, absence of a criminal record and proof of writing- out of the Census register. Migrants may also not pose a danger to public order, safety, decent conduct or general interest. Students from Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten with study-financing and admission to an educational facility will be exempted, as will people from the Dutch public entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, people who have lived in a Dutch municipality for 10 years or more and persons with a large amount of capital.

 

According to OCaN and MAAPP, the law proposal goes against agreements made between the partners in the Kingdom. “This has to be arranged within the Kingdom and cannot be decided unilaterally by The Netherlands,” said OCaN Chairman Glenn Helberg. “The Netherlands often thinks that the Kingdom only consists of The Netherlands without taking into account that there are also the countries Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten,” said MAAPP Chairman Raymond Labad, who called the initiative law “political campaigning” in anticipation of the Second Chamber election on September 12. “This doesn’t inspire good relations in the Kingdom.” Helberg pointed out that the law proposal contravenes Article 3F of the Kingdom Charter, which states that the Charter supervises general regulations regarding admittance and expulsion of Dutch citizens. “We should stick to that.” He also questioned why such a law had not been drafted based on equality and in consultation with the countries.

 

Member of the Second Chamber Cynthia Ortega- Martijn of the Christian Union (CU) agreed that the law proposal violated agreements made as part of the Charter. She said her party was against the law proposal, because the CU is for free movement of persons within the Kingdom. She said the law proposal “unnecessarily puts relations in the Kingdom on the edge.”

 

OCaN and MAAPP don’t think that the Council of State, the highest advisory body in the Kingdom, will give a positive advice on the law proposal. Labad said MAAPP was in contact with members of the Council of State for the Kingdom and that the organisation was lobbying behind the scenes. Helberg said the issue of poorly-educated and deprived people coming to The Netherlands was about poverty. VVD’s law proposal is not the solution to this problem, he said. According to Helberg, countries in the Kingdom have a shared responsibility to tackle poverty in the islands and to provide opportunities and perspectives for the people there. “We believe in making people privileged so they have a chance at success in society,” he said. According to OCaN, better schools in the islands will yield much more results for the Kingdom and ultimately cost much less than to implement admittance regulations. “Mr. Bosman pretends that he is doing this for the poorly-educated and deprived people in the islands and that this helps increase their chances at better education and a better future in general. This is all campaign rhetoric,” said Helberg. “The Dutch cabinet has a caretaker status. Why come with a law proposal now?”

 

Ortega-Martijn said the VVD should not “hide behind the excuse” that this law proposal was aimed at giving the overseas countries more power to develop their own people. She pointed out that many professionals from the islands living in The Netherlands had greatly contributed to Dutch society and that it was clear that for the VVD, only these people were welcome. Ortega-Martijn said the VVD had tried for years to exclude people from other autonomous countries in the Kingdom, which they considered deprived. “The VVD thinks it has found a short cut with its bright idea of excluding people within the Kingdom.”

 

According to Labad, the VVD initiative is another attempt at creating two kinds of Dutch citizens. “The Queen already told Mrs. Verdonk [former Minister of Immigration and Integration-Ed.] in 2006 that there was only one kind of Dutch citizen,” he said.

MAAPP will consult with its membership and other Antillean and Aruban organisations in The Netherlands to see what subsequent steps it will take. If need be, MAAPP will take the law to the International Court for Human Rights.

 

OCaN will draft a legal advice on the law proposal, but Helberg said that it was primarily up to the countries Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten to make formal objections. “The countries should say: ‘This is going too far,’ and remind The Netherlands that there are agreements on the Kingdom level.”

The fact that the law proposal has been submitted to the Second Chamber doesn’t mean that it has gone into effect. The Second Chamber will handle the proposal after the elections. The Council of State still has to give its advice. The VVD wants the law to go into effect before the end of 2012, but the MAAPP and OCaN don’t think this will be the case. The organisations estimate that it will take at least another year.

 

Dowload here: Voorstel van Wet regulering vestiging van Nederlanders van Aruba, Curaçao en Sint Maarten in Nederland

 

Source: sabanews.com / The Daily Herald