THE HAGUE--The Netherlands doesn’t carry the constitutional responsibility under the Kingdom Charter to solve the pollution caused by Curaçao’s Isla refinery, said Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament André Bosman on Thursday.
According to Bosman, the Charter clearly defines the responsibilities of the individual countries. Environmental affairs is an autonomous, internal affair of the Country Curaçao. And, because there is national redress, intervention by the Kingdom Government is not warranted. “Intervention in this matter is an impassable road for the VVD,” he said.
“Curaçao is an autonomous country with associated responsibilities. The Charter is very clear on this. Curaçao has to take its own decision what it wants to do with the Isla refinery. If Curaçao wants to keep the refinery open and do nothing to improve the situation for its citizens, then that is their choice,” Bosman stated in a general debate with Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk.
Curaçao should be the one to approach the Kingdom Government if it wants help to tackle the pollution caused by the refinery, the Member of Parliament (MP) said. He emphasized that the political responsibility for the refinery was in Curaçao, not in the Netherlands.
In his opinion, the political parties in Curaçao should make their position on the refinery clear, based on which the voters should make a choice during the elections later this year. “If a majority of the people votes in favour of keeping the Isla open, then that is their choice.”
Bosman objected to the use of the Kingdom as a “cafeteria model within the Charter” where countries picked and chose the items whenever they felt like it, conveniently ignoring things that were not to their liking.
He said that the refinery discussion made clear that the “expiration date” of the Charter had reached and that it was time to adapt the Charter to introduce a commonwealth structure. “The islands only have to call, and we will arrange it.”
