WILLEMSTAD - The fact that Curaçao has not yet signed the COHO (Caribbean Organ for Reform and Development) administrative agreement has no major consequences for the financial obligations of the government. This is what the Minister of Finance Javier Silvania says on his Facebook page.
Last week, the spokesperson for Undersecretary Raymond Knops of Kingdom Relations and the Interior confirmed that Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten (CAS islands) still did not agree with the Kingdom Act.
After an official agreement was reached, an administrative agreement was signed on December 2. The CAS islands have now put this agreement on hold. "It is in fact only a signature and then the law can pass to the various parliaments," said Knops's spokesperson.
The Kingdom Council of Ministers has decided to defer handling the documents until the next meeting on 21 January. Until then, no liquidity support will be paid. “This does not have a major impact on the government's financial obligations,” said Silvania. “If the announced budget for 2022 is not forthcoming, the 2021 budget will be leading.”
According to the Curaçao government, all conditions have been met. However, Knops would have come up with an extra condition at the last minute, so that no signature has yet been placed. “The Council of State has criticized the Memorandum of Amendment,” Silvania writes in his message. According to the minister, there have not yet been discussions at administrative level between the four countries about the change.