PHILIPSBURG--Party For Progress (PFP), United Democrats (UD) and United St. Maarten Party (US Party) have requested an urgent meeting of Parliament to discuss government’s response to the conditions laid down by the Kingdom government for financial assistance for St. Maarten to cover the cost of the St. Maarten Stimulus and Relief Plan (SSRP).
The factions want a meeting held no later than today, Tuesday, since government has to get back to the Netherlands by tomorrow, Wednesday. The factions said in a joint statement on Monday that Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs is scheduled to brief Parliament on the overall state of affairs as it relates to COVID-19 this Wednesday at 2:00pm.
In their letter to Chairperson of Parliament Rolando Brison, Members of Parliament (MPs) Claudius Buncamper (US Party), Melissa Gumbs (PFP) and Sarah Wescot-Williams (UD) said the briefing will be after the deadline for government’s response to the Kingdom government and that would leave Parliament “no room” for discussion “on this important matter that will have consequences not only for the government of St. Maarten, but for the community as a whole.”
The deadline for government’s reaction to the Kingdom government is this Wednesday, hence the request by the factions for an urgent meeting no later than Tuesday afternoon.
The agenda point requested by the MPs is “Government’s response to the conditions of the Kingdom government in reaction to government‘s request for financial assistance for the SSRP.”
“The media has been inundated with bits and pieces of the conditions laid down by the Kingdom government. The Minister of Finance [Ardwell Irion – Ed.] speaks of unachievable conditions and the prime minister has labelled the proposal indecent,” the MPs requesting the meeting said in a press statement. “In the opinion of the MPs, if this meeting is not convened by the time the prime minister comes to Parliament at 2:00pm on Wednesday, “the die would have already been cast.”
