THE HAGUE - Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten are close to an agreement with the Netherlands on a 'mutual arrangement' about reforms to be implemented. The signing is expected to take place in early April. To this end, Prime Ministers Gilmar Pisas, Evelyn Wever-Croes and Silveria Jacobs will travel to The Hague.
During administrative consultations on January 12 and 13 on Sint Maarten, the prime ministers reached an agreement with Secretary of State Van Huffelen (Kingdom Relations) to make a mutual arrangement per country instead of the controversial consensus kingdom law for the establishment of the Caribbean Reform and Development Agency (COHO).
The expectation expressed in Philipsburg during a joint press conference that these agreements could be signed at the beginning of March has turned out to be too optimistic. Especially the official elaboration and 'putting on paper' of the agreements took more time.
As soon as the countries have signed, Van Huffelen will officially withdraw the COHO bill presented to parliaments last year. The content of the country packages to which the governments of Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten have committed themselves will not change. It is not clear how supervision of implementation without COHO will take place.
Unlike a Kingdom Act, governments do not need the consent of their parliaments to enter into a mutual arrangement.