WILLEMSTAD - A high-level meeting in Curaçao between St. Maarten’s Minister of Finance Marinka Gumbs and Curaçao’s Minister of Finance Charles Cooper reportedly ended without agreement this week, amid a dispute over the chairmanship of the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten (CBCS).
According to information circulating following the talks, the meeting was a continuation of a shareholders discussion originally scheduled for December 10, 2025. That earlier meeting was reportedly postponed after Minister Cooper was abroad in the Netherlands and became unavailable due to other commitments. The resumed discussions in Curaçao were expected to address, among other issues, the composition of the CBCS Supervisory Board and the question of who should hold the chair.
Reports indicate that tensions rose when the chairmanship issue came to the fore. St. Maarten is said to have taken the position that it should now assume the chair of the central bank, citing what was described as an earlier understanding reached in June 2024. According to those reports, Minister Gumbs argued that this understanding was based on a verbal agreement, or “handshake,” reached with former Curaçao finance minister Javier Silvania, and that St. Maarten had acted in good faith on that basis by exploring potential candidates.
Curaçao’s side reportedly disputed whether such an understanding was ever valid or binding. The disagreement is said to have led to a stalemate, with St. Maarten allegedly refusing to proceed to other agenda items until the chairmanship issue was resolved. Minister Gumbs reportedly declined to continue discussions once it became clear that no immediate agreement would be reached, stating that St. Maarten could not move forward while a core governance issue remained unsettled.
During the meeting, a caucus was reportedly held, during which current CBCS board members present attempted to persuade Minister Gumbs to continue with the remaining agenda, including matters related to the supervisory board. According to the same reports, her position did not change, and the insistence that the chairmanship be addressed first remained firm.
The exchange is also said to have intensified when remarks were allegedly made by Minister Cooper suggesting that a prolonged deadlock could fuel broader debate about the future of the monetary union itself. Reports claim that the possibility of the union eventually going its separate way was raised, though the context and intent of those comments remain unclear. St. Maarten’s side reportedly responded that any potential rupture would stem not from external speculation or earlier public remarks about dollarization by Prime Minister Luc Mercelina, but from the current governance dispute surrounding the CBCS.
Another point of contention reportedly involved differing interpretations of the history of the CBCS chairmanship. Conflicting claims were allegedly made over whether the previous chair had been nominated by Curaçao or by St. Maarten. Minister Cooper is said to have stated that the last official chairperson, Etienne Ys, was nominated by St. Maarten, a claim that St. Maarten’s delegation reportedly rejected.
Adding to the sensitivity of the situation, reports also refer to parallel discussions about the internal functioning of the CBCS. It was allegedly suggested that an internal arrangement exists whereby Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas would handle day-to-day operational matters of the bank, while Minister Cooper would remain the formal legal signatory. If accurate, such an arrangement could raise questions about internal authority and transparency within the central bank. However, this aspect of the reported discussions has not been officially confirmed and remains unverified.
While no official statements have been issued by either government following the meeting, the reported breakdown suggests that what was intended as a routine governance discussion may have exposed deeper tensions over trust, process, and balance within one of the most sensitive shared institutions of the Curaçao–St. Maarten monetary union.