THE HAGUE - The refinancing of the corona loans to Curaçao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten has been added to the topics for discussion during the budget debate for Kingdom Relations/BES Fund. This decision was made through an expedited email procedure by the Second Chamber Committee for Kingdom Relations.
The refinancing of a total of nearly 1.2 billion euros has sparked significant controversy. Out of dissatisfaction with the interest rates, Curaçao and Aruba ignored the deadline for signing the loan agreement, waiting until just minutes before their loans would become immediately payable. Following this, the cabinets of Pisas and Wever-Croes heavily criticized Secretary of State Van Huffelen, accusing her of abuse of power and misinformation.
The committee has also decided to include the report of the Thodé Committee on the introduction of a social minimum for the Caribbean Netherlands in the agenda. The budget debate will take place on Wednesday and Thursday.