THE HAGUE - Undersecretary of Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops is not satisfied with the way in which the governments of Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten implement the condition to apply an upper limit for the incomes of top officials in the (semi-)public sector and the rates of consultants. This is apparent from a letter that the undersecretary has sent to the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament today.
As of July 1, 2020, these should have been capped at 130% of the Prime Minister's salary. An investigation conducted by the Ministry of Kingdom Relations has revealed that the regulations drawn up by the countries not only differ in content, but are also insufficiently effective in important parts.
It now appears that the Kingdom Council of Ministers (RMR) decided on September 24 that the three countries must bring the relevant legal texts in line with the previous RMR decisions before November 1, 2021. “In addition, the RMR has formulated a number of points that should be included in the regulations, in order to increase their effectiveness. These points relate, among other things, to the basis for the calculation of the maximum income, that scope and enforcement," says Knops.
About Curaçao specifically, Knops indicated that the RMR has not been able to assess in time whether all the conditions set by the RMR have been sufficiently met. The implementation agenda for the fourth quarter has not yet been drawn up and the (draft) plan of action for the implementation of the package of measures relating to the buffer reserve of the Social Insurance Bank (SVB) has not yet been submitted. The plans of approach established by the Council of Ministers with regard to the reforms of the tax system and the tax authorities and the minimization of losses at the Curaçao Medical Center have been submitted but could not be assessed by the Temporary Work Organization (TWO) because they came in late. In addition, Curaçao has indicated that it wishes to enter into consultations with the Committee for Financial Supervision (CFT) about the recommended liquidity requirement for the fourth quarter.
The RMR has therefore decided to postpone decision-making on the liquidity support for Curaçao for the fourth quarter of 2021 and, as a result, decision-making on the degree of deviation from the central budget standard for the whole of 2021. Decision-making on this tranche can take place in a subsequent RMR, provided that all the aforementioned conditions have been met in good time and the implementation agenda for the fourth quarter has been jointly determined.