THE HAGUE - The democratic deficit in the Kingdom takes a step towards reduction with a silent amendment to the Statute. As of January 1, the Netherlands can no longer misuse its majority in the Kingdom Council of Ministers to impose rules on the countries outside the parliaments. A Kingdom law, proposed 23 years ago but only proclaimed last Friday, puts an end to this practice.
On December 28, 2000, Member of the Dutch Parliament Gerritjan van Oven (PvdA) introduced an initiative Kingdom law to strip the Kingdom Council of Ministers of the authority to enforce cooperation from administrations in the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom through general measures of Kingdom governance. At that time, the Dutch government was not eager to easily relinquish that power.
Exception
It wasn't until 2016 that then-Member of Parliament Roelof van Laar revived the dossier. To garner support, some concessions were made to the cabinet's objections: An AMvRB (general measure of Kingdom governance) would still be allowed in exceptional cases, but only if there are very special circumstances and for a limited duration.
The initiative Kingdom law was passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, but then it remained silent for years. Until last Friday, without an explanation from the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the amendment to the Statute was proclaimed in the State Gazette by Royal Decree.
Consequences
After approval by the Second and First Chambers, the Parliaments of Curaçao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten also had to have their say. It is unclear whether the countries took 7 years or if 'The Hague' stretched the process. Van Laar suspects the latter because of the consequences: all previously imposed AMvRBs must be converted into Kingdom legislation established through the Royal route (with input from the CAS countries).
Former Minister Plasterk already warned in 2016 that the 'Van Oven law' would give the involved ministries mountains of extra work and require complete legislative procedures, from advice by the Council of State to plenary discussions in the Second and First Chambers with the participation of delegates from the Estates of Curaçao, Aruba, and Sint Maarten.
Royal Decree
The Royal Decree was signed by King Willem-Alexander on October 21, almost 3 weeks later followed by publication in the State Gazette. Remarkably, no public announcement was made about it.