THE HAGUE–St. Maarten’s reconstruction after Hurricane Irma and the deal with the World Bank to manage the Trust Fund with Dutch aid will take centre stage in a general debate in the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament next week Thursday.
The Second Chamber’s Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations decided during a procedural meeting on Wednesday to invite State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops for a debate about the status of affairs of St. Maarten’s reconstruction and the pending agreement with the World Bank.
It was announced on Thursday that this debate will take place next week Thursday afternoon. On the agenda are two letters of the State Secretary: one letter from last week Friday about the latest developments regarding the reconstruction and the agreement with the World Bank, and another letter about Knops’ visit to St. Maarten and St. Eustatius early February this year.
The proposal for a debate came from Member of Parliament (MP) Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP), who suggested that it would be a good idea to discuss the specifics of the Trust Fund and the involvement of the World Bank before the State Secretary signs the agreement with the latter institute mid-April in Washington DC. The Trust Fund will hold a maximum of 470 million euros to assist in the rebuilding of St. Maarten. In total, the Dutch Government has reserved 550 million euros for St. Maarten.
The Kingdom Relations Committee further requested the State Secretary to supply a timetable regarding the submitting and handling of the law proposal to introduce the Dispute Regulation (Geschillenregeling) for the Kingdom. The Second Chamber wants to have this timetable before April 10.
The Dispute Regulation has been a recurring, often intense topic in talks between the four countries of the Kingdom for years now. Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten are unified in their position, but their vision differs from the one of the Netherlands.
Thus far, no agreement has been reached on the precise format and the range of the Dispute Regulation, and therefore no joint law proposal that has the blessing of all countries has been drafted despite many attempts.
In absence of a joint legislation proposal and the urgency to have such a regulation in place to serve as a medium of intervention in case of disagreements within the Kingdom, the Dutch Government has decided to move forward by drafting its own law proposal.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/75188-st-maarten-recovery-debate-next-thursday
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