WILLEMSTAD - After the agreement between the governments of the Netherlands and the Caribbean countries about the Caribbean Agency for Reform and Development (COHO), the coalition factions MFK and PNP are not yet reassured about the arrangements that have been devised for the new entity. They immediately asked Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas fourteen questions about the agreements made.

It is still uncertain whether the members of the coalition will agree with the new COHO. MFK and PNP are particularly concerned about the role that the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK) will play according to the reports about the agreement.

The full content of what the Coho Kingdom Act should become is not yet known, but according to the information released, the law has been amended in response to the advice of the Dutch Council of State and the Caribbean Advisory Councils. In addition, the autonomy of the countries would be respected and there would be better financial and economic prospects.

The coalition partners have doubts about this because it is said that the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations can give instructions to COHO. Because this affects the internal affairs of Curaçao, the MFK faction leader Amerigo Thodé and Sheldry Osepa of the PNP are afraid that this will affect the autonomy of Curaçao.

In their questions, Thodé and Osepa suggest that Prime Minister Pisas has been pressured by Undersecretary Raymond Knops of Kingdom Relations to say that the new bill does justice to Curaçao's autonomy. Pisas must explain how that happened or, if not, why he sends the new proposal to the Advisory Council anyway.

MFK and PNP are curious what will happen if the Advisory Council still judges the amended bill as an infringement of the autonomy. They tell the Prime Minister that an instruction from the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations to the COHO affects the autonomy of Curaçao. Pisas is asked to reflect on the COHO in relation to the importance of autonomy.