Consensus-national laws with Parliament

August 10, 2009 5:54 AM

Four of the five consensus-national laws have meanwhile arrived at Parliament. According to chairman Pedro Atacho, these laws will be discussed after the opening of the parliamentary year in September during a central committee meeting.

The four consensus-national laws, which have arrived at Parliament, are those of the Public Ministries, the Joint Court of Justice, the Council for the Juridical Enforcement, and Police. The consensus-national law regarding the financial supervision is the only one that did not arrive at the States yet. According to Atacho, the parliament is also awaiting the advice of the Council of State on the relevant consensus-national laws.

The chairman is planning to place the laws on the agenda in September or beginning October of this year during a meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament. The reports on this meeting will then be forwarded to the Netherlands, and added to the report of the consideration in the Lower Chamber. When the consensus-national laws are finally put on the agenda for a public meeting of the Dutch Lower Chamber, Parliament will have the opportunity to participate in the debate by sending one or more representatives to attend the meeting.

Atacho has also forwarded a letter to Willibrord van Beek (VVD), the chairman of the committee Netherlands Antillean and Aruban Affairs (NAAZ) yesterday. At the beginning of last month, Van Beek had sent a letter inviting the Parliament as well as the Island Councils of Curaçao and St. Martin, for a ‘legislation-consultation’. In the meantime, the committee National Affairs and Interparliamentary Relations of the States has decided not to accept this invitation. In the letter, Atacho refers to a previous letter, where Parliament had indicated that they did not see the point of attending a consultation of the Parliamentary Consultation of the Kingdom (POK) which was proposed by a Dutch delegation and should have taken place in October last year. At that time, the reason for this was that the Parliament would be involved in a hectic period of considering numerous laws which are important for the dismantlement of the Country, and the fact that the month October fell within the hurricane season, as a result of which, especially Parliament-member of the Windward islands, were hesitant to travel to the Netherlands. However, the Parliament is prepared to exchange thoughts on the laws. If it was up to the Antilles, then this could take place at the beginning of next year.

(Source: National Newspaper Amigoe)

August 7, 2009