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January 8, 200
bron The Daily Herald
MAHO--The BES islands (Bonaire, Saba ad St. Eustatius) will continue to strive to
attain a new constitutional status by December 15, 2008. The islands had a meeting
on civil servants level with representatives of the Netherlands in the Bonaire Room
of Sonesta Maho Reef Resort on Thursday.
The meeting will be finalised today, Friday. However, Saba's Constitutional
Affairs Commissioner Chris Johnson told The Daily Herald no major decision would be
taken, although constructive and positive discussion were being held on how to
further pave the road for the BES islands to attain their desired new status by
December 15, 2008. He stressed that the islands would continue to work seriously to
meet the target date. "It seems that we will get a lot done this year. The Central
Government may doubt us, because they will be the ones out of work, but the general
consensus is to try to achieve the new status by December 15." Without giving any
details, Johnson said the discussions on the BES funds, the WolBES, the legal
framework for the islands once they become part of the Netherlands, the general
legislation to introduce the BES islands' new status, the so-called IBES, and the
voting law had been satisfactory. The voting law, for example, needed amending to
make it possible for the islands to participate in Dutch elections. Whether the
islands will have representation in the Dutch Parliament as well will have to
Delegations from Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius with Dutch civil servants at the
start of yesterday's meeting to discuss various matters of importance for the
constitutional change trajectory of the islands. be discussed on the political
level, Johnson said.
The discussion will continue today on the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles
and the agenda for a week of meetings in The Hague scheduled to take place by the
end of January. "We need to agree on the agenda for the meetings in the
Netherlands," Johnson said. The decision of Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom
Relations Ank Bijleveld- Shouten to suspend the temporary provision for supervision
of the budget and fi nancial management if the BES islands by six months was not
discussed yesterday. "Possibly we will table the matter tomorrow (Friday)," Johnson
said. Island Council Member and Parliamentarian for Bonaire's UPB party Ramonsito
Booi said the suspension had to do with legal aspects. "Dutch laws on accountability
are pretty strict. Some of our old debts were never audited. This gives a legal
problem. That's why the suspension: so we can work out a solution," said Booi.
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