THE HAGUE — The Lower Chamber Committee for Kingdom Relations asked the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations many questions about the budget for 2013 and frequently referred to the political situation on Curaçao.

Although the explanatory note didn’t dilate upon the current situation because the budget for 2013 was drawn up before the collapse of the Schotte-cabinet and the installation of the interim-cabinet of Betrian, the Committee for Kingdom Relations actually wanted clarification on this point.

One of the questions was ‘In which way had the government arranged to guarantee the fundamental human rights and freedoms, the legal security and good corporate governance from the Charter during the recent political crisis on Curaçao and the ensuing change of power?’  Indirectly the committee referred to the situation with the question ‘To which extent has there been a question on Curaçao in the past period of a serious infringement on fundamental rights and freedoms or a situation in which legal security or good corporate governance were no longer guaranteed and the internal control mechanism was actually dysfunctional?’ Other questions regarded the collaboration between the Netherlands on the one hand and Curaçao, St. Maarten and Aruba on the other hand. The committee inquired after the financial support for collaboration programs that are to make the countries more independent. “What is the ultimate purpose of enhancing the autonomy of the Kingdom partners?” “Why did the collaboration policy with Curaçao and St. Maarten come to an end while new life is injected in the collaboration with Aruba?” “What is actually meant by the safeguarding task must be secured through the collaboration policy?”

There were also questions on specific subjects such as the residence requirements for Dutch citizens wishing to settle in one of the countries, plans to reduce the number of business trips to the Caribbean area and the number of marines working in the three countries.

Minister Liesbeth Spies will answer the questions during a plenary debate in the week of October 22.