Discussions on target date
should take place, says Sarah
PHILIPSBURG--Constitutional Affairs Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams is hopeful that discussions with State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten on the target date of December 15 will take place in April.
The scheduled political consultation with all Kingdom partners will be cancelled.
“During my discussions with Bijleveld in the Netherlands, she too expressed her doubts whether there will be a political consultation in April, because there will be no matters ready for political decision-taking except for the target date December 15,” the Commissioner stated on Wednesday.
She told Bijleveld-Schouten she believed a discussion should be held in April even without products for decision-taking. “The information on the feasibility of the target date will be there and should be discussed.”
According to Wescot-Williams, the State Secretary indicated that she would have such a discussion, although not on the level of political consultation. “Hopefully in May, a political consultation can then take place,” the Commissioner said.
Regarding the ongoing negotiations within the constitutional change process, she said St. Maarten maintained the point of departure that constitutional development was an overall package on which partners had agreed in several areas such as finances, Justice and good governance, towards the change of status for the different entities.
“We have a serious concern that if the matter of debt relief is separated and dealt with separated from the rest of the areas and the rest of the items, most others than St. Maarten will not necessarily be interested in completing this process and in having the new statuses for the entities materialised.
“We have all agreed to several matters, part of the different conclusions reached over the years such as the November 2, 2006, and February 2007 accords, and we believe all matters should be addressed with the same haste and emergency as the others,” the Commissioner stated.
