THE HAGUE – During the Interparliamentary Kingdom Consultation (IpKo) that will be held in Sint Maarten at the beginning of May, the delegations of the four countries will receive a so-called technical briefing about the draft Consensus Kingdom Act on the Caribbean Body for Reform and Development (COHO).
The briefing is provided by officials from the Kingdom Relations Department of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. The governments of Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten have been invited to include their official COHO experts on the team providing the briefing.
In The Hague, it is hoped that Parliament will be able to form a more substantiated opinion if they are well informed about what the law entails, what the impact is and why certain choices have been made. A lot of biased information about COHO is spread on social media. Even Prime Minister Pisas of Curaçao turns out not to be completely aware, judging by the objections he has sent to The Hague.
The parliaments must submit their written response to the bill in mid-May, after which the governments will give a joint response (again in writing). State Secretary Alexandra Van Huffelen, stated today in the oral consultation with the Dutch Senate Committee on Kingdom Relations, that she does not rule out the possibility that the bill will be amended on the basis of possible criticism.
