Dismantling of Antilles
on schedule, says Duncan
PHILIPSBURG--The dismantling of the country the Netherlands Antilles is on schedule, emphasised Minister of Constitutional and Internal Affairs Roland Duncan during the political consultation with the Netherlands, Curaçao and St. Maarten on Tuesday.
The Minister informed the parties of some of the work that is being done by the Department of Constitutional Affairs and the Project Organisation for the Dismantling of the Country the Netherlands Antilles POLNA. The dismantling progress report was one of the agenda points of Tuesday’s meeting at Belair Community Centre.
Duncan announced a political summit about the National Archives mid-February. In that meeting, the Island Territories and the Central Government will take a political decision on the report by the Expert Group that looked at the dismantling of the National Archives. Parliament approved a resolution dealing with the National Archives on January 17.
The Committee on the Division of Assets and Liabilities (Commissie Boedelscheiding) has been working on an inventory of the assets and liabilities and will present its final report at the end of March. A representative of this Committee gave a presentation on the status of its work during a meeting in Sonesta Maho Resort on Sunday.
The Project Organisation for the Dismantling has started to analyse the transfer files of the Ministries of the Central Government. The next step is to discuss these transfer files with the Island Territories, which should take place in February and March.
The inventory of the financial responsibilities of the Netherlands Antilles has started. Proposals are being worked out.
Where it concerns the legal aspects of the dismantling, it was announced that the inventory of constitutional law, international law, penal law, labour law and civil law was on schedule. The proposals regarding the legal aspects for the dismantling are being worked on.
The inventory of the legal aspects regarding personnel has been concluded. An inventory of personnel data is ongoing. The points of departure as agreed upon during the summit of the Central Government, Curaçao, St. Maarten, St. Eustatius, the Netherlands and the unions on personnel on December 8, 2007, are being worked out. This part of the trajectory too is on schedule, Duncan stressed.
The execution structure of the dismantling trajectory consists of a core group (kerngroep), a secretariat, an advisory committee that guides the Project Organisation for the Dismantling of the Country the Netherlands Antilles, and various expert groups. The islands, the Netherlands and the unions are represented in the advisory committee.
Duncan dismissed during Tuesday’s political summit concerns that the dismantling trajectory was not moving fast enough and stressed that the trajectory was on track and transparent. All parties are fully involved in the process.
