“Turn islands into Dutch municipalities”

“Turn islands into Dutch municipalities” PHILIPSBURG – While United People’s party faction leader Grisha Heyliger-Marten is pushing her decolonization agenda, the Dutch quality daily Trouw directed the discussion in the opposite direction with the publication of an article that suggests turning the autonomous Caribbean countries Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten into Dutch municipalities. Comforting thought: the decision about a change in constitutional status is in the hands of the population of the three islands.

Under the headline “How to tackle the crisis in the kingdom” Trouw presents the vision of two constitutional experts who maintain that turning the countries into Dutch municipalities is the only solution.

Earlier, State Secretary Raymond Knops (Kingdom Relations) stoked up the fire with his statement that the countries in the Caribbean part of the kingdom are unable to sustain their autonomy. In 2010 the Netherlands took on the multi-billion dollar debt of the islands, though St. Maarten did not receive its fair share, mainly because the government’s administration was in a shambles and accountants were unable to substantiate the country’s debts sufficiently. Over the past decade, the countries have accumulated new debts that are pushing them over the IMFrecommended debt to GDP ratio of 40 percent; an unsustainable situation.

“Not the inhabitants benefit from the economic prosperity, but a small group of rulers,” Trouwreporter Bart Zuidervaart writes, followed by this Knops-quote; “It is a crying shame that we have to send thousands of food packages over there to make sure that people get through their day. I find it extremely painful that during the past decade the countries have not managed to create a system with which they are able to provide these people with the necessary assistance.”

When a government delegation led by Prime Minister William Marlin returned from the Netherlands with the date for autonomy (10-10-10), government advisor Richard Gibson Sr. raised his hand in the airport’s press room with a big smile on his face: “Finally free!” he declared. But the existence as an autonomous country has not brought about the changes or the prosperity decision makers had in mind. On the contrary, Hurricane Irma (2017) and the current COVID-19 crisis prove that the island cannot survive without the help of its big brother.

Instructions from the Kingdom Council of Ministers, the never-ending arguments about a dispute regulation and the (according to some politicians) stifling influence of financial supervisor Cft are among the major headaches in the transatlantic relationships. The kingdom wants more control. The islands want more freedom.

Jan Wijenberg is a former ambassador and a former advisor to several prime ministers of the Netherlands Antilles; Aart G. Broek is a sociologist who lived for the past twenty years in Curacao researching social and cultural topics.

Wijenberg and Broek say in Trouw that there is only one way out towards a better future: turn the six Caribbean islands (they include Saba, Statia and Bonaire in their argument) into fullfledged Dutch municipalities and make them part of one of the twelve Dutch provinces. (They discovered that making the islands part of Zeeland is a bad idea, due to that province’s rather prominent role in the slave trade).

Wijenberg says that the BES-islands are not full-fledged municipalities. “They don’t belong anywhere; they are floating in the air somewhere.” Broek has a similar opinion about the three autonomous countries – Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten: “They are inadequate in many fields; crime fighting, education, unemployment. Look at the environmental problems with the refinery in Curacao. Look at the lamentable way Venezuelan refugees are accommodated. The government finances are unmanageable.”

Wijenberg and Broek’s opinion is not new: they first made similar pleas back in 2005 but at the time nobody was interested.

Wijenberg acknowledges that turning the islands into Dutch municipalities would have farreaching consequences: the introduction of the euro, domestic flights between Amsterdam, Philipsburg, Oranjestad and Willemstad, and a Dutch fiscal system with higher old age pensions.

It would cost the Netherlands a lot more money than it is spending now.

Wijenberg and Broek point to the Kingdom Charter as one of the sources of discontent – there is too much space for arguments and misery. “Curacao, Sint Maarten and Aruba have problems that they cannot deal with independently. It makes them dependent on the mother-country. The Caribbean islands are beggars and serfs of the Netherlands,” Broek says.

Wijenberg and Broeks’ ideas do not have any supporters in the Dutch parliament. The extremeright PVV wants the islands out of the kingdom, while the VVD and the Socialist Party have proposed on several occasions the creation of a commonwealth – an idea that does not appeal to St. Maarten.

CDA-MP Chris van Dam is aware of the problems St. Maarten is facing – for instance with the conditions in the Pointe Blanche prison, and he says there is every reason to reconsider the current constitutional relationships.

Van Dam realizes that this is not an easy task, if only because the United Nations have confirmed on several occasions that the Netherlands cannot impose anything on the islands: they decide about their own future.

There is little chance of success for the model Wijenberg and Broek propose, Van Dam says in Trouw. “The islands will have to give up autonomy and they have fought long for it. I don’t see that happening any time soon.”

Prof. Arjen van Rijn, a constitutional reform expert at the University of Curacao, refuses to label the islands’ current situation as bankrupt. “That does not do justice to the past seventy years that the countries of the kingdom have survived through trial and error.”

The status of Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten is that of a “nice-weather-autonomy” Van Rijn says. “It works as long as the sun shines. But as soon as there is a hurricane (or an invisible one like the COVID-19 pandemic) it is crisis. And then the Netherlands enters the picture.”

Van Rijn is a proponent of the status quo. “The islanders are not Europeans and they have their own culture, their own society. They are proud of their autonomy and the last thing they want is to become an integral part of the Netherlands.”

But even Van Rijn knows that something needs to be done and he considers investing in mutual relationships as a partial solution. He suggests the creation of a permanent fund for financial assistance to the islands. “The islands are a part of us, they belong and there is nothing wrong with that. The cabinet ought to show much more solidarity. Within the European Union the Netherlands shows itself also as the most frugal little boy in the classroom. We have to look at ourselves. Is this how we want to live?”

Wijenberg and Broek stand firm in their belief that turning the islands into Dutch municipalities is a sustainable solution. “The more stable the islands are, the better it is possible to protect your

identity. Look at Friesland; it is possible. We are saying to the islands; have another look at our plan and use it to your benefit.�

Source: https://www.trouw.nl/verdieping/hoe-kan-de-crisis-in-het-koninkrijk-wordengekeerd~bfd4c186/ Photo caption: Dutch windmill replica under construction on Sint Maarten on the boardwalk in Philipsburg.