By Suzanne Koelega
THE HAGUE--The Dispute Regulation (“Geschillenregeling”) promises to be the major topic during the Inter-Parliamentary Consultation for the Kingdom IPKO in St. Maarten next week. That also goes for the eleven-member Dutch delegation of the First and Second Chamber which will be in attendance.
During the previous IPKO in May 2015 in The Hague, the Parliaments of the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten reached a unanimous agreement to urge the governments of the four countries to establish a Dispute Regulation. The IPKO supplied a few pointers for the establishing of that regulation, but so far the governments haven’t reached an agreement on its format.
“The Dispute Regulation is a continuous and complex discussion in the Kingdom and requires all attention. The issue hasn’t been solved on a government level, and that makes it all the more important for us Parliaments to discuss on how to proceed with this matter,” said Senator Ruard Ganzevoort of the GreenLeft party GroenLinks.
Member of the Second Chamber Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP) said the Dispute Regulation could not be seen separately from the equality within the Kingdom and the need for good governance. In this sense he mentioned his proposal for a commonwealth construction where all countries would carry full responsibility for their own affairs.
“When we have secured that equality, we can have a Dispute Regulation. We can’t have Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten dictate to the Netherlands how it should give content to the responsibility that it has under the Charter. We need to discuss a commonwealth structure because without equality it makes no sense to have a Dispute Regulation based on the current relations where the Netherlands is responsible for the actions of the overseas countries,” said Van Raak.
Senator Frank van Kappen of the liberal democratic VVD party said it was cardinal to establish the exact meaning of a Dispute Regulation, what this regulation would contain. “We first need to get that clear, otherwise this issue will never be solved,” he said.
Legal interpretation
According to Van Kappen, the Netherlands sees this Dispute Regulation in the realm of the legal interpretation of the Charter, whereas the Dutch Caribbean countries want a broader regulation, to give it more body. The overseas countries also want a decision under the Dispute Regulation to be binding, which the Netherlands doesn’t want.
Fact is that there is a great inequality between the Netherlands and the Dutch Caribbean countries in size, with the Netherlands being much larger. In that sense Van Kappen agreed with Van Raak that the smaller countries cannot dictate to the bigger country what to do. “The Charter ensures that there cannot be a dictatorship of the majority. The Netherlands cannot enforce its will without limits. But the other way around should not be allowed either.”
Van Kappen and also Member of the Second Chamber Roelof van Laar of the Labour Party PvdA mentioned the law proposal drafted by the PAIS party of Curaçao which will be discussed at the upcoming IPKO. Van Laar and Van Kappen lauded PAIS for taking the initiative. “It is an attempt to arrive at an equally comprised committee,” said Van Kappen.
Van Laar and his colleague Wassila Hachchi of the Democratic Party D66 said it was up to the governments of the countries to carry out the wish of the four Parliaments to set up the Dispute Regulation. “It is an important issue. All countries are waiting for this to materialise,” said Van Laar. “The governments have to move ahead with this, but that doesn’t take away our role to again discuss it,” said Hachchi.
Face to face
In Hachchi’s opinion, the upcoming IPKO, as always, provides the opportunity for the four Parliaments to see each other face to face. “Personal, one-on-one contact is important. Communication often takes place via the media, and that is not a good thing. As Members of Parliament we can assist each other, build bridges. That becomes especially important in times of troubled relations,” said Hachchi.
Van Laar and Hachchi said they were curious to hear how things were going in St. Maarten politically. Van Laar said good governance remained a source of concern. Also a source of concern are the continuous reports of elections on the different islands that didn’t take place according to the rules. “Maybe we should come to an agreement on a Kingdom level how to promote honest, transparent elections. This is a matter that directly relates to good governance,” he said.
Ronald van Raak said it was always good to meet with the colleagues of the other Parliaments, even though the situation felt “a bit awkward” with the pending large-scale criminal investigation of the relations between the underworld and upper world in St. Maarten and Curaçao.
“It feels a bit weird to be talking about practical issues when a large investigation is about to start, an investigation with great repercussions for some local politicians, for the relations with the countries and within the Kingdom. I am more than willing to talk with everyone, but this investigation will cast a shadow over the IPKO,” said Van Raak.
Cultural differences
Senator Van Kappen said the relations in the Kingdom would always be subject to some trembles. “The Netherlands has a culture of ever feeling guilty, while the islands have a culture of feeling embarrassed, except Saba. Those two cultures are bound to clash at times. What we should do is to try to make it work as good as is possible,” he said.
Van Kappen mentioned the possibilities to cooperate under what he called the “Transatlantic dimension” with the Dutch Caribbean serving as the link between Europe and Latin America. “We should concentrate more on things that we can do together instead of focusing on our cultural differences.” Van Kappen was positive about the upcoming IPKO. “The last IPKO meetings have gone quite well despite the relations that have grown a bit sour in recent times.”
Senator Ganzevoort, who is the deputy leader of the Dutch Parliamentary delegation, said the IPKO should not only be about constitutional matters, but it should also touch on concrete topics that are important to the people of the four countries. He mentioned common topics such as transport, (sustainable) energy and the environment.
“Even though most of these common issues concern local tasks of the individual countries, we can still learn from each other, share knowledge. It is through the talking about these issues that we can get ahead, together, as a Kingdom,” said Ganzevoort.
Involve the youth
Youth and youngsters, and by extension children’s rights, is another important topic on the IPKO agenda, at least for Wassila Hachchi. Concrete steps are being taken in the entire chain to achieve improvements. “We can learn a lot from our overseas colleagues how families are doing on their island, because they know the actual situation,” she said.
Hachchi said it was important to involve youngsters in the Kingdom, have them participate in politics. “We need to keep the door open for these young people. They are the new energy, the new élan.” She said the IPKO should not only be about the Dispute Regulation and good governance, but that it should also be about the future of the Kingdom.
Van Laar was positive about the IPKO despite the tensions in the Kingdom. “The tensions are mostly between the government and we at the IPKO usually don’t notice much of that. I think that the IPKO has found its way over the years to work in a constructive manner. I anticipate that it will be a good IPKO,” he said.
Other members of the Dutch delegation are: its leader Jeroen Recourt (PvdA), Thom de Graaf (D66), Sophie van Bijsterveld (CDA) and Meta Meijer (SP) of the First Chamber, and André Bosman (VVD) and Liesbeth van Tongeren (GroenLinks) of the Second Chamber. Meijer and Van Tongeren, who both have professional experience in the area of environment and nature protection, are new in the delegation. The IPKO takes place between January 5 and 8.
