THE HAGUE--The law to establish the Dispute Regulation for the Kingdom, approved by the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament in the night of Thursday to Friday, was adapted through an amendment by Member of the Aruba Parliament Ady Thijsen to set up a special department for Kingdom Disputes at the Council of State.

 

Together with Members of the Second Chamber Chris van Dam of the Christian Democratic Party CDA, André Bosman of the liberal democratic VVD party and Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP), Thijsen, who attended the plenary debates on Tuesday and Thursday as a  special delegate, submitted an adapted amendment for a new department at the Council of State to handle disputes filed under the Dispute Regulation.

A vast majority of the Second Chamber voted for the amendment.

 

The parties that voted in favour of Thijsen’s amendment were the same parties that voted for the Kingdom Law itself: VVD, SP, CDA, Democratic Party D66, GroenLinks, Labour Party PvdA, ChristianUnion, DENK, 50Plus, Party for Animals PvdD and Christian reformed party SGP.

 

Thijsen’s amendment, co-signed by Bosman and Van Dam, stated that the special Kingdom Disputes Department will consist of members of the Council of State Advisory Department, the members of the Council of State of the Kingdom and three associate members appointed on the request of the governments of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten. The Vice-President of the Council of State will be the chairperson of the Kingdom Disputes Department.

 

The Second Chamber voted in favour of three other amendments to the Kingdom Law Dispute Regulation. These concerned amendments by Nico Drost of the ChristianUnion; Antje Diertens (D66) and Attje Kuiken (PvdA); and Roelof Bisschop (SGP).

 

The Drost amendment dealt with the possibility for the Ministers Plenipotentiary of the Dutch Caribbean countries to still ask the Council of State for advice when the Kingdom Council of Ministers chairperson had rejected a request to file a dispute procedure due to highly urgent decision-taking. The advice requested by the Minister Plenipotentiary will not have direct consequences for the dispute in question, but it is of added value for future cases.

 

The Diertens and Kuiken amendment concerned including a framework detailing compelling grounds for the Kingdom Government to deviate from an advice of the Council of State under the Dispute Regulation. The amendment served to make clear under what exact circumstances the Kingdom Government can deviate, depending on the nature and weight of the Council of State’s objections.

 

Bisschop’s amendment concerned the explicit inclusion of room for assessment of the Dispute Regulation in the evaluation every three years.

 

The Second Chamber approved the Kingdom Law on its last working day before the summer recess. The approved Kingdom Law will now go to the First Chamber, the Senate, for handling.