THE HAGUE - Member of the second chamber of the Dutch parliament for the CDA party, Chris van Dam wants to hear from Undersecretary Raymond Knops of Kingdom Relations at what time the Kingdom Council of Ministers decides on the request of the government of Curaçao to get more time to put the public finances in order.
As previously reported, Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath, in a letter to his counterpart Mark Rutte, in his role as chairman of the Kingdom Government, appealed to Article 25 of the Financial Supervision Actm Rft), which relates to "extraordinary events". The consequences of the crisis in neighboring Venezuela for Curaçao's economy and society justify that, according to Rhuggenaath. Van Dam asks Knops to send the letter to the second chamber
“What procedure does the Kingdom Council of Ministers follow for the processing of a request for the application of Article 25 Rft and on what period will the Kingdom Council of Ministers make a ruling on this request? Do the considerations in the Council of Ministers only limit the request made by Curaçao or will other options be considered during that treatment, such as giving an indication pursuant to Article 13 of the Rft?” according to the CDA MP.
“In addition to giving a designation (Article 13 Rft) and granting a temporary exemption from the budget norms in connection with the repair of damage caused by extraordinary events (Article 25 Rft), what options does the Kingdom Council of Ministers have to financially influence the budget of the countries of the Kingdom?
Rhuggenaath's request has since been followed by a recommendation from the Financial Supervision Board to force Curaçao to cut costs and take income-increasing measures at the same time. The government in Willemstad fears that such an approach will aggravate the situation rather than improve it.