THE HAGUE - The VVD party is putting the independence of the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom on the agenda for the upcoming elections. The party's draft election program, presented today, calls for the "explicit provision" to be included in the Statute, stating that Curaçao and Sint Maarten, as well as the special municipalities of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba - like Aruba - have the right to leave the Kingdom.
This proposal is outlined in the liberals' draft election program. The desire to make it easier for the islands to achieve independence is not new. In January 2019, former VVD Member of Parliament André Bosman submitted a legislative proposal. Since his departure from Parliament, the proposal has been on hold.
In the draft election program titled 'Giving Space, Setting Boundaries,' an older legislative proposal by Bosman resurfaces: the admission rules that Curaçao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten apply to European Dutch citizens should also apply in the opposite direction. The proposal was rejected by the Dutch House of Representatives in 2016.