GREAT BAY – In the absolute twilight of his political career, Kingdom Relations Minister Ronald Plasterk is not about to make any waves. And so his visit to St. Maarten ended yesterday with a press conference where the 60-year old Labor-politician said his goodbyes without getting on the wrong side of anybody.
On Monday, Plasterk visited Saba and Statia. Yesterday he briefly visited Oyster pond to take a look at the border situation and he attended a presentation by the St. Maarten Development fund about the 1.9 million guilders project for the elderly. The money for this project comes from the remaining funds of Usona.
Minister Plasterk lunched with Governor Drs. Eugène Holiday before paying a visit to the /council of Ministers in the new government administration building. Prime Minister William Marlin, Finance Minister Richard Gibson and Minister of Public Health Emil Lee were present in this meeting. Lastly, Plasterk paid a visit to the president of parliament, MP Sarah Wescot-Williams.
In the second half of the afternoon, Plasterk sat down for a press briefing at the office of the Dutch Representative on Front Street.
“For those who like statistics,” Plasterk said in his opening remarks, “On August 20 this will be the longest sitting cabinet in Dutch history. We have had four and a half years of responsibility.”
The minister highlighted the role of his department towards the Caribbean part of the kingdom – six islands and, since 10-1010, four countries of which three are autonomous but not entirely independent. “I have seen it as my role in the past couple of years to be precise in figuring out who is responsible for what so that people always know whom to talk to. I also discussed this with the cabinet in St. Maarten this afternoon. Sometimes I needed to clarify to the Second Chamber in the Netherlands that some issues are the responsibility of St. Maarten and not those of the Netherlands.”
Plasterk maintained that the Netherlands and St. Maarten are working together “in good spirits” and he even expressed his gratitude to the people on the island who were always ready to collaborate.”
But for Plasterk, all these concerns will soon be a thing of the past. “In a couple of weeks there will be a new cabinet in the Netherlands and then I will step out of politics,” he said.
Plasterk remains positive about the working relationship with St. Maarten. “We have approached a situation where the relationship is mutually respectful but also grown up,” he said. “We recognize responsibilities and we are finally working towards stability.”
The minister noted that all four countries in the kingdom have financial supervision. “They are looking over the shoulders of the politicians to make sure that there will be financial stability for the generations to come.”
During a dinner with Minister Lee (Public health), Minister Plasterk discussed the plans for the new hospital. “I would like to do from our side whatever we can to support that project. It will certainly improve the lives of the people here.”
Plasterk said that he had discussed the National Health Insurance during his visit, but that the Integrity Chamber and the dispute regulation had not been part of the talks.
The first draft of the Integrity Chamber ordinance was sent to Plasterk’s office on Monday. While he did not comment on its contents, the minister saw some light at the end of the integrity tunnel. “I recognize that for the first time in history we’ve had integrity screenings for ministers carried out by the governor. I think that is a good development; it is important for the people in St. Maarten.”
That the tempo of changes demanded by the Dutch is at times a bit too much for St. Maarten is something Plasterk is well aware off. “I recognize that we live in a glass house. Everyone can see everything. And everything that needs to be addressed has to be addressed. You cannot hold off and say no, we can take ten years to do that. That is not how it is going to work. There is no alternative. You cannot look the other way when you see that something is not going well because that is not in the best interest of the people. I recognize that there is pressure on the people who are in office but that is inevitable.”
Asked about St. Maarten’s future, Plasterk hedged his bets. “This is a young country and it is not very large. Everybody knows everybody and that also makes it more difficult to do things properly. Fortunately we are able to support St. Maarten, for instance by subscribing to loans that otherwise would carry interest rates of 6 or 7 percent. We help with the legal system, the RST; a country of 40,000 cannot do all those things on its own. That would be impossible.”
On the issue of the dispute regulation Plasterk remained non-committal as well. “I submitted a proposal to the Dutch parliament that will also be forwarded to the parliament here. At some point it will be dealt with in parliament where representatives from St. Maarten’s parliament can join in as well.”
“It is an ironic situation. The Kingdom Charter says that there is a dispute regulation but it isn’t there because there is a dispute about how to do this. At some point parliament will have to fill this in.”
Asked what he will do after leaving politics, Plasterk smiles. “I will just walk away. I’m not going to hang around.”
Source: TODAY http://today.sx/local-news/minister-plasterk-kingdom-relations-cruises-exit-pressure-inevitable/
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