Monday’s continuation of an urgent Parliament meeting on developments at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) ended in an anti-climax. Just before voting on a motion by SMCP faction leader Claude Peterson making it clear there is no problem with the caretaker government signing loan agreements for the terminal’s reconstruction, several members of the new coalition of nine walked out.
The latter meant there was no longer a quorum to continue, so the plenary session had to be adjourned. That could ultimately turn out for the best, however, because by all indications there was insufficient support to carry the motion signed only by four current opposition members.
In fact, the decision to abandon the assembly hall may mean those involved did not want to go on record as voting against, due to the urgency involved in fully restoring the island’s main gateway. Several legislators mentioned those directly and indirectly employed by the airport, but this issue concerns the local tourism economy as a whole and consequently everyone’s livelihood.
Waiting on the still-pending NA-led interim cabinet being put together by “formateur” Silveria Jacobs is risky business. For one thing, the screening of candidate ministers might take longer than foreseen and PJIA is fast running out of money to comply with its obligations.
It was argued that the 2019 budget and relevant national decrees give enough authorisation to sign the documents, while the governor also included finalising the existing financing scheme for PJIA’s rebuilding in the task given to the “formateur” for the next government. However, the bondholders want assurances because of the no-confidence vote passed against the caretaker cabinet specifically instructing them not to make any commitments with third parties.
While a lot was said about why Monday’s motion was unnecessary, there were no convincing arguments as to what backing it could really hurt. Moreover, NA’s Ardwell Irion revealed that he had unsuccessfully reached out across the aisle to see if the motion could be adapted, while his faction colleague Egbert Doran wanted to see the final version of the documents to be signed first.
So, perhaps room can yet be found for compromise on this crucial matter, because it is anyhow obvious that funding arrangements made with the Netherlands, the World Bank, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the bondholders cannot be reversed even if the incoming government would want to. There is thus also no real reason not to adopt the motion.
