THE HAGUE - The Parliaments of Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten say they need more time for their response to the Kingdom Act for the establishment of the Caribbean Body for Reform and Development (COHO). They have formally requested a postponement.
The parliaments of all four countries have the right to submit a so-called written report through which they can put questions about the bill to State Secretary for Kingdom Relations Alexandra Van Huffelen. She will also reply in writing before the bill is discussed in the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament.
It is an open secret that in the Parliaments of the CAS countries there are fundamental objections to the COHO Act, partly because it would affect the autonomy. The request for postponement will be discussed on Wednesday in a procedural meeting of the Parliamentary Committee for Kingdom Relations.
It was intended that the countries would submit their reports before the end of this month. This also applies to the Kingdom Act for financial supervision in Aruba. The Parliament of Aruba have also requested a postponement of this.