THE HAGUE - Curaçao and Sint Maarten have not yet met the conditions of the second tranche of corona loans previously issued and are therefore not yet eligible for the third tranche. That was decided today in the Kingdom Council of Ministers today.
Aruba has met all the conditions and is therefore eligible for a next loan but must still agree to the conditions attached to it. Talks about this will be continued soon.
Curaçao has once again (now until September 1) been granted a postponement to still meet the conditions of the previous loans. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is prepared to continue to talk with the Rhuggenaath cabinet about the package of conditions for qualifying for the third tranche.
No talks will be held with Sint Maarten until that country has demonstrated that it has met the conditions of the second (now fully paid) tranche of liquidity support.
In the Kingdom Council of Ministers, the governments of Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten were again informed through the ministers plenipotentiary that the proposal of the Netherlands for new loans is an 'voluntary offer' and that this is subject no concessions are made to the conditions set such as supervision by a 'Caribbean Reformation entity'.
Below is the full text of a letter that Undersecretary Knops (BZK) has just sent to the Second Chamber:
LETTER TO SECOND CHAMBER
“In the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom (RMR) of May 15 last, there was a proposal for the second tranche of liquidity support, including conditions attached to it, to which Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten (hereinafter: the countries) have all agreed unconditionally. It has been agreed that the countries must, among other things, have complied with these conditions before they can qualify for a third tranche of liquidity support. In addition, other conditions apply - such as those described in a coherent package in the RMR of 10 July 2020 - that the countries must meet in order to be eligible for the third tranche of liquidity support.
During the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of July 10, on the basis of advice from the Aruba Financial Supervision Board (CAft), it was already established that Aruba largely meets the conditions set for the second tranche, with the exception of the condition to put a maximum on the incomes of top officials in the (semi-) public sector on 130% of the salary of the Prime Minister. It has been decided to grant Aruba a postponement until October 1, 2020 in order to submit a proposal approved by Parliament for the maximization of top incomes to the CAft. In principle, this means that Aruba is currently eligible for a third tranche of liquidity support, provided that we reach unconditional agreement on the other conditions attached to the third tranche. Because Aruba entered into the discussion on the basis of the coherent total package for the third tranche, as presented during the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of July 10, intensive discussions were held this summer with Aruba about this package. As soon as I can report more about the outcome of these conversations, I will of course inform your Chamber about this.
However, for both Curaçao and Sint Maarten, the Board of Financial Supervision Curaçao and Sint Maarten (Cft) could not establish that they have met the conditions of the second tranche. It was therefore decided that these countries would be given the opportunity until July 15, 2020 to submit all relevant information to the Cft (and to the Ministry of Finance where it concerns the financial sector), in order to demonstrate that all the conditions set have been met. Based on this, the Cft issued an advice on 11 August, which was discussed during the Kingdom Council of Ministers of 14 August last. I hereby inform you about the results of this discussion.
Curaçao
The Cft concludes in its advice that Curaçao has taken significant steps in the fulfillment of the agreed conditions but has nevertheless not yet fully complied with all the conditions set for the second tranche of liquidity support. While decisions have been taken and are being implemented on most of the conditions, they have yet to be laid down by law. Politicians' salaries are already being cut by 25%, but the National Ordinance formalizing this is still in preparation. The same applies to the 12.5% cut on the employment conditions package of employees in the (semi) public sector.
The Kingdom Council of Ministers has therefore decided that Curaçao must submit additional information to the Cft (and about the financial sector at Finance) by September 1, 2020, demonstrating that all the conditions set have now been met. The Cft has been requested to issue a new advice on this to the Kingdom Council of Ministers by 7 September 2020 at the latest. In the meantime, this process will not stand in the way of discussions about the third tranche of liquidity support based on the coherent package as presented in the Council of Ministers on 10 July.
Sint Maarten
The Cft was again unable to establish that Sint Maarten has met the conditions for the second tranche of liquidity support. This means that no talks will be started with Sint Maarten about the provision of a third tranche of liquidity support at this time. If Sint Maarten still wants to have this conversation, the country will first have to demonstrate to the Council of Ministers via the Cft that all the conditions set for the second and third tranches have been met. This request will then be assessed by the Kingdom Council of Ministers based on the circumstances at that time, whereby it will in any case be examined whether the need for liquidity support still exists.”
