THE HAGUE – The Ministers Plenipotentiary of the CAS countries (Curaçao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten) raised strong concerns today during the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom about recent comments made by Dutch Member of Parliament Thierry Baudet, which were widely perceived as "denigrating, disrespectful, and colonial". 

The remarks were made last week during a parliamentary committee debate and sparked immediate backlash from representatives of the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom. 

“We discussed it in detail,” said State Secretary for Kingdom Relations Zsolt Szabó following the meeting. “The entire Cabinet distances itself from the remarks. Our government’s policy is based on equality and mutual respect. We will leave it at that, as these were the comments of an individual parliamentarian, and Parliament governs its own affairs.” 

Szabó also added that he does not expect the remarks to affect the working relationship between the governments of the Netherlands and the Caribbean countries. 

Despite this reassurance, the incident has once again brought longstanding sensitivities within the Kingdom to the surface, particularly regarding how Caribbean partners are addressed and treated in Dutch political discourse.