An urgent Central Committee of Parliament meeting originally to take place last week which had been rescheduled for this afternoon was postponed again. Independent parliamentarian Christophe Emmanuel says in both cases there were no explanations why.
Along with the United St. Maarten Party (US Party) faction, he requested an urgent discussion on the Caribbean Body for Reform and Development COHO that is to guide the implementation of restructuring measures as condition for continued COVID-19 financial assistance from the Netherlands.
Before an accord on the latter was signed, Dutch State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops asked for and received assurances from the Parliament in Philipsburg that there was majority legislative backing. Emmanuel is the only member who subsequently rejected related cost-cutting proposals for public sector employees and personnel of government-owned entities, although he did vote to reduce the benefits of elected representatives – including his own – and ministers.
It stands to reason that a draft kingdom law to establish the COHO will have the same kind of broad-based support also among the opposition ranks. After all, this very much concerns a “package deal” as Knops clearly indicated.
No such legislation has yet been presented pending pertinent advice and the devil is usually in the details. So, while political debate on issues is always welcome, it might be nice to know beforehand exactly what one is talking about.
