�Donner against intervention
�THE HAGUE--The Dutch Socialist Party (SP) wants members of the Cura�ao and St. Maarten cabinets to be screened again, but this time by an independent organisation.
� Member of Parliament (MP) Ronald van Raak (SP) is considering submitting a motion to this effect during the general debate in the Dutch Parliament?s Second Chamber today, Thursday, with Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Piet Hein Donner.
��Topics of the debate are the screening process, the Kingdom?s guarantee function and the non-approval of St. Maarten?s 2011 budget by the Council for Financial Supervision CFT. The debate was requested by Van Raak and his colleague Andr� Bosman of the governing liberal democratic VVD party.���
� In his motion Van Raak will request that the Dutch government carry out additional research to determine whether the current ministers of Cura�ao and St. Maarten were appointed correctly and to inform Parliament on the possibilities of revoking the ministers? appointments. SP almost surely will receive support from the Party for Freedom PVV, which is in favour of strict control mechanisms for the islands.
� ?Cura�ao and St. Maarten have had new governments for a few months now, but already they are in a mess again. In Cura�ao, ministers are in power who never would have been appointed with a decent screening,? according to Van Raak.
� In Van Raak?s opinion, the screening of members of St. Maarten?s cabinet also wasn?t done properly, otherwise former Minister Maria Buncamper-Molanus never would have been appointed. According to Van Raak, Buncamper-Molanus has a ?history of conflict of interest.?
� Nonetheless, Buncamper-Molanus was appointed and had to resign two months later after a scandal involving the sale of the economic rights to a piece of land. ?Now she can enjoy a royal retainer (wachtgeld). What good does a screening process do when a minister like this is appointed??� ���
� Van Raak and Bas Jan van Bochove of the governing Christian Democratic Party CDA intend to pose critical questions about the screening process in Cura�ao, where the head of the national security agency was placed on non-active status.
� Van Raak also will refer to St. Maarten?s government finances, which are a ?mess,? according to him. ?The minister [Donner, ed.] will be talking again, but we have already talked so much. The minister should intervene.?��� ���������
� In anticipation of today?s debate, Minister Donner sent a letter to the Second Chamber on Tuesday in which he gave his opinion on the screening process and the guarantee function of the Kingdom government as stated in Article 43 of the Charter.
� He also shared his thoughts on the vision on the Kingdom document currently in preparation. The latter document will go to Parliament only after he has discussed the ?first line? of this vision with all island governments in April. He expected to receive the input from the islands mid-February. The Dutch Parliament had requested that the minister share his thoughts on a vision for the Kingdom before today?s debate.
� The Kingdom consists of four autonomous countries, each with its own mechanisms to guarantee joint values, and each with its own responsibility for good governance, legal security and protection of human rights, stated Donner.
��?The Kingdom has its own authority to take measures in case the countries? own mechanisms fail,? stated Donner. The Kingdom government can impose a general measure of Kingdom government (algemene maatregel van rijksbestuur) based on Article 51, utilising the guarantee function.
� ?However, the point of departure is that the Kingdom government gives the countries time and space to assume their own responsibility,? stated Donner, who stressed that it concerned an authority of the Kingdom, not of the Netherlands. As such, decisions need to be taken in consultation with the partners in the Caribbean.
� ?Intervention by the Kingdom government means setting aside the regular statutory relations and should therefore take place only after careful consideration. The guarantee function becomes applicable only when the country?s own mechanisms function insufficiently. It concerns an extraordinary authority for extraordinary situations,? explained Donner.
� In a separate letter that he sent to Parliament on Tuesday about his January visit to the islands, Donner also referred to the islands? own responsibility. He reminded Parliament that the new constitutional relations had only been in effect a few months. ?It takes getting used to the new situation and it is a matter of jointly putting our shoulders under it to make it a success,? he said.
� St. Maarten?s budgetary issue was discussed amply during his visit to the island, stated the minister. ?St. Maarten has indicated that it already foresees problems with the execution of the ambitious plans of approach. I told them that the execution of these plans was not without obligation, but that these had been defined in a general measure of Kingdom government AMvRB,? said Donner.
��He told St. Maarten that it was important to indicate specifically in the budget how the plans of approach were being financed. He said the CFT would inform the Kingdom Council of Ministers mid-February on the state of affairs concerning St. Maarten?s budget.
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