|
|
|
 |
|
|
Franco-Dutch Treaty should be debated in Island Council
by The Daily Herald
Posted: Jun 27, 2006 15:00 UTC
|
PHILIPSBURG - The people of St. Maarten should be very clear about what the Franco-Dutch Treaty is all about, People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) leader and Island Councilmember Gracita Arrindell stressed Monday after discussions on the treaty in a petit committee meeting earlier in the day.
Arrindell also stressed that the people of St. Maarten should know the points of view of those who are advocating that the treaty be signed.
“That’s why it has to be discussed in a public meeting of the Island Council,” she told The Daily Herald.
“After twelve years it (the Franco-Dutch Treaty) has finally been placed on the Government’s front burner. We need to clarify the matter and assume a position in the Island Council, then send it to Parliament for Parliament to forward it to the Dutch Government,” she said.
She said she had enquired during yesterday’s meeting whether the visa requirements stipulated in the treaty could be implemented without the treaty being signed and whether the treaty could be amended in such a way that an “option clause” be included to make it easier in the future to amend aspects of the treaty.
She also suggested that the Executive Council consider as soon as possible the setting up of a foreign relations bureau, especially in light of the constitutional changes ahead, to deal with issues such as the application of treaties.
Arrindell also said Commissioner Roy Marlin had behaved in what she considered a very unruly manner during yesterday’s petit committee meeting on the Franco-Dutch Treaty.
She said she had had to ask Chairwoman Maria Buncamper-Molanus to call Marlin to order, because he kept interrupting her while she was directing questions to former Member of Parliament Marcel Gumbs who had prepared a discussion paper for the petit committee on the Franco-Dutch Treaty.
Arrindell said she had made it clear to the Chairwoman at the start of the meeting that Marlin was not authorised to speak on her behalf concerning her agenda. She referred to a statement made by Marlin during last week’s Executive Council press briefing, stating that Marlin had said that she would not be present at the petit committee meeting.
And, referring to Commissioner Marlin’s suggestion that she could have travelled to The Hague as a member of the St. Maarten delegation there and could have delegated someone else to attend the petit committee meeting, Arrindell said Buncamper-Molanus had confirmed Monday that only Island Council members could be part of the petit committee.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Content © The Daily Herald 2006 - All Rights Reserved.
You may bookmark this web page, print it or e-mail it to
a friend in accordance with the fair-use provisions of
copyright laws. The material is intended solely for the use
of the individual user.
Archiving, redistribution, or republication of this
material
on other terms, in any medium, requires the express
written permission of the author or publication and the
notification of the editors of Caribseek News. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
