THE HAGUE - In the Dutch Senate there are doubts as to whether the draft Kingdom Act will have sufficient support for the governments and parliaments of Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten. This can be inferred from the additional questions submitted by the political factions of CDA, D66 and PvdD in response to the answers of the Undersecretary of Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops to the first round of written questions.
Especially about the non-binding decisions of a yet to be established separate department of the Council of State and the fact that Knops did not want to exchange ideas with the countries about their disappointment, the senators demand further explanation: “Is the risk of a badly behaved Kingdom Act Kingdom disputes lurking? Can the Kingdom government indicate what this means for the feasibility of this Kingdom Act?” according to the PVV.
The Undersecretary is requested to answer no later than 26 May so that the Senate can discuss the bill in plenary on 1 June, in the presence of special delegates from Parliament and plenipotentiary ministers of the three Dutch Caribbean countries, and then vote on it.