WILLEMSTAD - On Friday, March 19, Prime Minister Rhuggenaath received the advice of the Council of State - which had already adopted its advice on March 3 - about the questions Curaçao had regarding the country package and the reforms involved. Given that the document is strictly confidential until it is presented to the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom and the Dutch Parliament (which is the usual procedure), it is not possible for the Prime Minister to make it public, nor to comment on the content. Which means that he cannot comment on it now, although the advice has now come into the hands of the media and there is a lot of speculation about the content and the possible implications. Prime Minister Rhuggenaath can already indicate that he is satisfied with the advice.
The reason for this is that the advice extensively discusses the list of questions that Prime Minister Rhuggenaath submitted to the Council of State after discussion in Parliament last October 2020. It has become clear from this that the Council of State has many of the same reservations that Curaçao has, whereby a reconsideration of the draft Kingdom Act is recommended on several important points.
In July 2020, the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations of Curaçao made it clear that continuation of the crucial liquidity support was only possible after acceptance of a broad package of reforms and the establishment of a new Dutch body. After several months of negotiation in which improvements have been made on many points, and after following the necessary procedures, the government of Curaçao has reached an agreement on the content of the national package and agreed to the process of revising the legislative process of the draft Kingdom Act. This started with requesting advice from the Council of State. This secured liquidity support, which was so desperately needed in the past two quarters in exchange for reforms that are important to Curaçao.
But at the same time, it was agreed that Curaçao's questions would be submitted directly to the Council of State, so that advice would be given on this before the adoption of the Kingdom Act and further changes could still be made.
It now appears that the negotiation strategy followed was the right one. On the one hand, the all-important financial support was secured when it was vital. And on the other hand, the Council of State advisory process was launched, which has now led to confirmation of the concerns already expressed by the government in July.
It is now up to the Netherlands, to the outgoing cabinet and possibly afterwards to the new government to further discuss the reconsiderations proposed by the Council of State and to negotiate constructive adjustments.