WILLEMSTAD - Curaçao refuses to agree to the conditions imposed by the Netherlands for receiving new financial aid. According to Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath, The Hague has "an agenda for the takeover and control of the government" of the autonomous country within the Kingdom. Aruba and Sint Maarten do not seem to agree either.
The three islands are now in a major economic crisis due to the corona pandemic and can hardly survive without money from the Netherlands. According to Minister Suzanne Camelia-Römer of Public Health, the Netherlands behaves like the former West India Company (WIC), and The Hague wants to "rule by Dutch laws on the autonomous islands."
In recent months, the Netherlands has already provided millions of guilders in liquidity support through soft loans. Next Friday, the Kingdom Council of Ministers (RMR) in The Hague would decide on new financial aid for the longer term. According to Undersecretary Raymond Knops of Kingdom Relations, this can amount to a billion euros in total.
For a good use of the money, and to force the autonomous countries to implement reforms that the Netherlands has been asking for for a long time, The Hague wants to create a separate organization. This so-called Independent Administrative Body (ZBO) must supervise the next seven years. Knops wants to appoint three European Dutch people (not from the islands) in the ZBO leadership.
With that, as Prime Minister Rhuggenaath of Curaçao made clear during an extensive press conference on Tuesday, The Hague is in fact eliminating the autonomy that Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten have known since October 2010. This is indecent and unacceptable to him and his government. "We must take our fate into our own hands."
Rhuggenaath underlined his willingness to talk further within the Kingdom Council of Ministers about the implementation of the reforms the Netherlands wants, such as in the public sector on the islands. He also said that he would seek further cooperation with the Netherlands in areas such as education and health care. But Curaçao does want "equivalence". "That's not how you treat each other," said Minister Steven Martina of Economic Affairs.
The question is how Curaçao will succeed in the short term to find enough money to keep society running and, for example, to guarantee the salaries of people in government service. Due to the economic crisis, which has especially hit important tourism, many jobs have already been lost in business. Sixty percent unemployment is imminent. About twenty percent of the population depends on food aid, for which the Netherlands gave money.
Minister Martina said on Tuesday that Curaçao is looking for opportunities to find money outside The Hague. He is thinking, among other things, of issuing bonds. "If we get no respect, we have to take this road," said Martina. According to Prime Minister Rhuggenaath, no one should underestimate "the creative powers" of this island.
The fact is that the Dutch "Kingdom of four countries" is experiencing its deepest crisis since 2010. Aruba has so far proved to be the most accommodating of Dutch reform demands. On Sint Maarten, the government and parliament will soon be voting to think about full independence. The Curaçao government says it does not reject the possibility of a referendum in advance. Incidentally, it has always been shown in the past that a majority of the population on the six islands, which once formed the Netherlands Antilles, wants to maintain a political link with the Netherlands.
