PHILIPSBURG--After taking a day to make adjustments to the draft, Members of Parliament (MPs) on Thursday voted in favour of sending a letter to the Dutch Parliament’s Second Chamber.
In the letter, Parliament would request their counterparts in the Netherlands to request its Council of State, an equivalent to St. Maarten’s Council of Advice, to weigh in on the proposed Caribbean Reform Entity. This is a different letter than the joint position paper that is to be drafted by the Parliaments of St. Maarten, Curaçao and Aruba.
MPs discussed the letter in an emergency public meeting on Wednesday, but it did not go to a vote because they could not agree on how to incorporate changes to the draft.
After making several changes, MPs put the letter to a vote on Thursday, and it passed with 10 in favour and three against.
The MPs voting against were Party for Progress (PFP) MPs Melissa Gumbs and Raeyhon Peterson and National Alliance (NA) MP Christophe Emmanuel. Absent for the voting were United People’s (UP) party MP Rolando Brison and NA MP Hyacinth Richardson.
Aruba’s Parliament is reportedly sending a similar letter to the Second Chamber.
