THE HAGUE – The Kingdom Council of Ministers has not yet made any decisions about Curaçao. It looked like the country would be given a budgetary instruction to get the financial management and budget in order. But Undersecretary Knops says that the Kingdom Council of Ministers will talk about it further in three weeks.

Knops emphasized that The Hague and Willemstad have been talking for some time about opportunities to stimulate the economy in Curaçao and to get reform started. “We will continue to have these discussions and we will work out and implement the cooperation agreement.”

The Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of the Netherlands also talked about Curaçao’s request to depart from the ‘normal’ budget rules, because there would be a special situation: the crisis in Venezuela. No decision has yet been taken on this either. Knops did acknowledge that the crisis in Venezuela has major consequences for Curaçao.

Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath, who was also with the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom, is pleased that there is still “room” to continue the talks. He stressed that his government was committed to a “more sustainable, structural reform program”. Rhuggenaath said to be sure that it will work with the support of the Netherlands.