Indications last night were that last-ditch efforts to form a national government and overcome the current political crisis had failed. The Governor sat down with party leaders and the Parliament meeting was even adjourned for such, but it seems no consensus could be reached.
Meanwhile, Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops warned of a “severe delay” in reconstruction funds if St. Maarten did not unequivocally agree to the requirements for such before the end of Wednesday, November 1. This explicit approval apparently was not yet given, despite Prime Minister William Marlin’s earlier statement that the two demands regarding the Integrity Chamber and border control had in fact been met.
It turns out the signatures of all Ministers and Parliamentarians will now be needed to reassure The Hague. That may take some doing, but any significant further postponement of financial help from the Netherlands would have dire social-economic consequences under already extremely difficult circumstances for the population.
Regardless of what final results the current battle between the “new legislative majority” and the Marlin Cabinet may have in terms of either sending the NA and US Party Ministers home or dissolving Parliament and calling early elections, unanimously accepting the conditions set to receive the aid at this point is actually a no-brainer. Once the documents are formalised, another incoming Government will in principle have to respect that too.
There is no reason to doubt the latter, as securing assistance from the Netherlands was the main motive to create a different coalition in the first place. Moreover, the embattled Council of Ministers, by going along with Knops, could argue that in the end it did get the money released.
This scenario would at least offer cabinet members some face-saving before having to step down. It might also be considered a choice for the people, rather than continued power play.
