THE HAGUE--Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk said on Thursday that he has not ordered St. Maarten Governor Eugene Holiday to sign the National Decree to dissolve the St. Maarten Parliament and to convene new elections.

 

Plasterk dispelled rumours in certain media that The Hague was the reason Governor Holiday had not signed the National Decree the Council of Ministers, led by Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, had sent to him last week following a motion of no confidence adopted by a majority of Members of Parliament.

 

"I didn't advise the Governor not to sign. I am in regular contact with him, not every hour, but certainly on a daily basis. I have all faith in the Governor," Plasterk stated during the handling of the draft 2016 Kingdom Relations budget in the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament.

 

Responding to a question by Member of the Second Chamber Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party SP, whether the Governor could handle this matter on his own, Plasterk said he was convinced that the Governor "moved within the legal boundaries."

 

Plasterk explained that the Governor had two choices where it came to a National Ordinance: he either signs it or sends it on to the Crown, the Kingdom Government.

 

Van Raak: "I have high esteem for the Governor. That is why I was surprised that he didn't send the National Ordinance to the Crown."

 

Plasterk replied that so far the Governor had not taken a decision, and that the consultations were continuing. "I leave that up to the Governor. I don't want to be in his way." He spoke of a "deadlock situation" and called the current political situation "unusual" and "unpleasant," but quickly added that this concerned an internal affair. He said it was especially unusual to adopt a motion against a Prime Minister in the latter's absence [Gumbs was off-island on state business at the time – Ed.].

 

Member of Parliament (MP) André Bosman of the liberal democratic VVD party asked whether the St. Maarten ministers were still in function. "It is unclear," he said. However, Plasterk confirmed that no Minister had resigned and that no new Government had been installed.

 

Towards the end of the budget handling, Van Raak presented a motion in relation to the broad investigation the Second Chamber has requested about the ties between the criminal underworld and the legal society in Curaçao and St. Maarten.

 

In his motion, Van Raak requested that the Dutch Government confiscate "all expensive yachts" in St. Maarten as a precautionary measure and give them back to their owners only after it had been proven that the vessels had not been paid for with criminal money.

 

The motion was met with chuckles from other members of Parliament. MP Madeleine van Toorenburg of the Christian Democratic Party CDA did not appreciate the motion and subsequent reaction. "This makes no sense. We have to remain serious," she said. The Second Chamber will vote on Tuesday on this motion and the other ones that were presented.

 

The other motions related to the pollution caused by Curaçao's Isla refinery and the need for concrete steps; finding a solution to the deadlock in talks to set up the dispute regulation; the United Nations regulation which states that the Netherlands cannot unilaterally sever ties with the Dutch Caribbean; the combating of poverty in the Caribbean Netherlands; and making human trafficking and forced prostitution a priority in the process to strengthen the law enforcement system in the Dutch Caribbean, among other things.

 

The Daily Herald