WILLEMSTAD - The parties that are currently working on the formation of a new government for Curaçao - MFK and PNP - will soon reach a coalition agreement regarding the policy for the various portfolios to be divided.
Only the "hot potatoes" Caribbean Agency for Reform and Development (COHO), COVID and finances will not be discussed yet. The parties believe that these topics cannot be "briefly" discussed at a Zoom meeting.
"Experts really have to sit together for that," says Sithree "Cey" van Heydoorn of the MFK. For the time being, MFK is claiming General Affairs (AZ), Traffic, Transport and Spatial Planning (VVRP), Education, Science, Culture and Sports (OWCS) and Justice. PNP will then receive the Ministry of Economic Development (MEO), Planning and Services Administration (BPD) and Social Development Labor and Welfare (SOAW).
If it is up to the parties, Rutsel Martha and Chester Peterson will continue as formateurs in the process to form a new government. A report on the information process was submitted to Governor Lucille George-Wout this week. According to Van Heydoorn, no response has yet been received. In the meantime, a coalition agreement is being drawn up.
While it was initially intended that approximately twelve working groups would be formed with five people from each party who would work on the content of the various portfolios or ministries, this method has been abandoned due to the intensified corona outbreak. The MFK chairman explains that each party writes its own plan for the previously assigned ministries and that the other party then responds and supplements it.
The governor stated in the instructions of the informateurs:
Curaçao is facing major challenges, particularly regarding poverty reduction, the recovery of public finances, economic development, tackling backlogs in education, improving healthcare, tackling crime and restoring infrastructure. Relations in the country itself and with the other countries of the Kingdom require a clear course and constructive dialogue. It is also important that the policy pursued by the government contributes to stability and tranquility in the community, as well as to widely supported trust in the administration, and is based on mutual respect.”