A plenary meeting of the First Chamber of the Dutch Parliament in its temporary location in The Hague as its permanent building on the Binnenhof is being renovated. (First Chamber photo)
THE HAGUE--A 13-member delegation of the First Chamber of the Dutch Parliament arrives in St. Maarten today, Friday. The delegation will remain in St. Maarten until Sunday morning when the Senators travel to Saba, and then on to St. Eustatius on Monday for a two-day visit.
The visit to St. Maarten, St. Eustatius and Saba is part of a 10-day tour of the Dutch Caribbean from February 25 to March 6. The delegation will be in St. Maarten February 25 and 26, Saba February 27-28, St. Eustatius February 28-March 1, Bonaire March 2-3, Curaçao March 3-4, Aruba March 4-5.
The 13-member delegation of the Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations of the First Chamber will be headed by Committee Chairman Paul Rosenmöller. The delegation wants to be informed by its Caribbean partners about the important topics for the islands.
The consultations on the islands will help the Senators to gain a more in-depth view on the legislation dossiers that the First Chamber will be handling and also serve to strengthen the relations within the Kingdom, it was stated in a press release on Friday.
The visit offers the opportunity for the members of the Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations of also the smaller and middle-size parties in the Senate to personally get to know the islands as they usually are not part of the Dutch Parliament delegation that comes to the islands once a year for the Inter-Parliamentary Consultation of the Kingdom IPKO.
On the islands, the Senators will meet with the Governors and Island Governors, members of government, politicians, employers’ organisations and labour unions, school boards, healthcare officials, entrepreneurs, persons and organisations from the law enforcement sector, consumer organisations, youngsters and others.
The delegation consists of Senators Paul Rosenmöller (GroenLinks party), Toine Beukering (Group Nanninga), Annemarie Jorritsma-Lebbink (VVD party), Ria Oomen-Ruijten (CDA party), Boris Dittrich (D66 party), Jeroen Recourt (PvdA party), Arda Gerkens (SP party), Peter Ester (ChristianUnion), Peter Nicolaï (PvdD party), Martine Baay-Timmerman (50PLUS party), Peter Schalk (SGP party), Jeroen de Vries (Group Otten) and Ton Raven (OSF party). Committee Registrar Fred Bergman and staff member Maarten van Rooij.
