THE HAGUE--Dutch Parliament demands to know who leaked the memo of Tuesday's Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting on the possible intervention in Cura�ao.
A majority of the Second Chamber supported the proposal of Member of Parliament Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP) to have the Dutch National Detectives (Rijksrecherche) or the Dutch National Intelligence Agency AIVD investigate who leaked the document which is considered state secret.
Discussions in the Kingdom Council of Ministers are never made public. But somehow information on Tuesday's meeting which dealt with the report of the Rosenm�ller Committee and the possible consequences for the Cura�ao Government ended up in public and available on the internet.
It specifically concerns a memo in which Cura�ao's Minister Plenipotentiary Sheldry Osepa reports the events of the October 4 meeting to Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte. In the document Osepa describes the response of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Ministers Henk Kamp, Maxime Verhagen and Piet Hein Donner to the Rosem�ller report.
The Second Chamber supported Van Raak's request to ask Rutte to confirm by letter before today's Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting that he will order an investigation by the AIVD or the National Detectives. Leaking information from meetings of the Council of Ministers and Kingdom Council of Ministers is punishable by law and can result in a prison sentence.
"Whatever is discussed in the Council of Ministers or the Kingdom Council of Ministers is state secret because Ministers have to be able to speak freely. The leaking of this document has damaged the confidence of Dutch Ministers in Cura�ao's Government," said Van Raak.
According to Van Raak, the incident has put further pressure on a relationship that was already troubled. "This has placed a bomb under the relations. There was already a crisis in the Kingdom, but this has made it worse," he said during Thursday's meeting in Parliament.
Van Raak brought a copy of Osepa's report in a sealed envelope to the meeting and wanted to hand it over to Chairwoman Gerdi Verbeet. The latter refused to accept the envelope because it concerned a state secret and suggested that the Prime Minister would have it picked up.
However, Rutte will not pick up the envelope from Van Raak, stated a spokesperson of the Dutch Government Information Service RVD Thursday evening. The RVD said Van Raak should deliver the document to Rutte.
The ruling liberal democratic VVD party, coalition partner Christian Democratic Party, the Party for Freedom PVV, Labour Party PvdA and the green left party GroenLinks all supported Van Raak's request for an investigation by the AIVD or Rijksrecherche.
"It concerns secret information of government and that should not be leaked. The situation regarding Cura�ao is getting more and more serious," said MP Bas Jan van Bochove (CDA). Andr� Bosman (VVD) was shocked as well. "It is terrible when you cannot trust each other anymore. What has happened is very worrisome," he said.
Martijn van Dam (PvdA): "It is not correct that literal statements that Ministers have made are on the street. This says something again about the quality of government in Cura�ao."
In his two-page report Minister Plenipotentiary Osepa warned Schotte that the entire Kingdom Council of Ministers agreed to intervene in Cura�ao based on the Kingdom's guarantee function as stated in article 43 of the Kingdom Charter.
Osepa's advice: "As long as we are governing our country based on our own autonomy, to handle as is necessary, then no one can pretend to intervene. The Council cannot take measures if Cura�ao's Parliament can indicate that it will make use of the opportunity (to take measures, ed.)."
According to Osepa, the Kingdom Council of Ministers will surely send an instruction to the Governor of Cura�ao if Cura�ao's Parliament doesn't act.
In his report Osepa stated that Rutte called it "improper" that Schotte didn't receive the Rosenm�ller Committee which looked into the integrity of Cura�ao's Government and its relationship with the Central Bank of Cura�ao and St. Maarten.
"Rutte found it incorrect that the Prime Minister of Cura�ao could wave private documents of a bank director on TV. Rutte indicated that this is an argument for a quick response by the Kingdom Council of Ministers," stated Osepa.
"Minister Kamp considers the situation in Cura�ao serious. Kamp sums up the points that he finds serious. He finds the several accusations about financing of parties, integrity of ministers serious enough to send Donner's letter. But Kamp agrees that Cura�ao's Parliament should have a chance to act first," stated Osepa.
"Minister Verhagen supports Donner's letter and says that Donner's letter doesn't violate the autonomy of the countries. He says the letter confirms the autonomy of the countries," stated Osepa.
"The Minister Plenipotentiary of St. Maarten indicated that speedy action was needed. The Minister Plenipotentiary of Aruba indicated that the situation in Cura�ao cannot be compared to Aruba. The WODC report is very different from the Rosem�ller report. This was the result of comments by Osepa that the Kingdom Council of Ministers didn't meet in the case of Aruba," continued Osepa.
Osepa commented on Thursday that he "lamented very much" that discussions in the Kingdom Council of Ministers had become part of a public debate. "Since it concerns state secrets, it wouldn't be proper to give further comment," he said.
Energy bills Madagascar Milan Baros Economic policy European debt crisis Pakistan cricket betting scandal
No comments:
Post a Comment