THE HAGUE - On January 12 and 13, the Prime Ministers of Aruba, Curaçao Sint Maarten and State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen will discuss the Democratic Deficit in the Kingdom.
The democratic deficit refers to the lack of parliamentary functioning at kingdom level. As a result, the positions on kingdom affairs of not only the Netherlands, but especially those of the three other Caribbean countries within the kingdom are insufficiently addressed.
The countries believe that the Netherlands is the country that imposes and makes decisions on various occasions. During the pandemic, the countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands have felt this more than ever.
Kingdom government
The Kingdom is formally governed by a Kingdom Government, which is composed of the Dutch government plus the ministers plenipotentiary of the three other countries. The position of these plenipotentiary ministers is not equal to that of the other ministers; they cannot submit bills to parliament and are not allowed to co-sign laws.
But the biggest problem in the constitutional structure of the Kingdom from a democratic point of view is that the Kingdom government has no legislative equivalent.
There is no such thing as a Kingdom Parliament. In practice, the Dutch Parliament controls the (Kingdom) government, but the citizens of the three Caribbean countries do not have an active right to vote for this parliament.
The Dutch parliament therefore ratifies laws and international treaties that apply to the entire Kingdom, while the residents of the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom have no influence on the composition of this parliament.
Moreover, the individual States of the Caribbean Countries cannot control the Kingdom government, and this government is not accountable to them.
Dispute resolution
Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes has said that it is essential for Aruba to start with binding dispute settlement if the elimination of the democratic deficit is not possible in the short term.