THE HAGUE - If the islands show enough progress, there is a chance that hundreds of millions of loans will be forgiven.

This was announced by Undersecretary Raymond Knops during the recent parliamentary debate in the Second Chamber of the Netherlands.

However, the loan is not forgiven in advance, as the islands ask. "Because too much has happened for that," said Knops.

Knops had a harsh, direct message for the elected officials in Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten during the plenary debate in Parliament on Wednesday about the supplementary budget amendment to facilitate liquidity support for the islands.

The three countries have asked the Netherlands for royal amounts of financial support – money that the Netherlands is not willing to provide without strict conditions aimed at cutting government cost and structural reforms. The Netherlands sets these conditions with good reason, according to Knops.