THE HAGUE--The Dutch Parliament's Second Chamber will hold two hearings on March 31 with experts in the field of constitutional law, and Justice and Police. The experts will give their views on the Kingdom Consensus Laws dealing with the new police organisations and Public Prosecutors' offices on the Antillean islands, and the amendment to the Kingdom Charter.

The decision to hold what were called "round table discussions" was taken during Wednesday's meeting of the Second Chamber's Permanent Committee for Antillean and Aruban Affairs NAAZ, at the request of Member of Parliament (MP) Johan Remkes of the liberal democratic VVD party. Colleagues agreed it would be good to have experts evaluate the laws.

Motivating his request, Remkes said he considered it important for Parliament to hear what the experts had to say about the law proposals before these were handled in April. The sessions to handle the Kingdom Consensus Laws will be held April 9, 12 and 13, with plenary sessions on April 14 and 15, and will be attended by delegations from the Aruban and Antillean Parliaments.

Parliament will vote on the Kingdom Consensus Laws on April 20. Before the voting, the Kingdom Council of Ministers will have to meet on April 16 to discuss the amendments that will be submitted during the handling of these laws.

Asked what kinds of experts he would like to take part in the hearings, Remkes said he didn't have any specific persons in mind yet. He was thinking of experts in the field of Police and Justice, and in the area of constitutional law. These experts would mostly be from the Netherlands, but Remkes said there might also be suitable experts from the Netherlands Antilles. Members of the NAAZ Committee were asked to submit names of experts that they would like to take part in the hearings.

The hearings will cover two issues that are essential to Remkes and the VVD party. The law proposal to amend the Charter is a vital matter because the Charter is of a higher order than the Dutch Constitution.

Remkes said such an important issue needed careful consideration, and could not be rushed through. Amending the Charter is necessary to eliminate the Country the Netherlands Antilles and accommodate the new constitutional statuses of the islands.

The Police Law, which regulates the police organisations of the new entities, is another matter that is crucial to VVD. "The Police Law will not pass the Second Chamber intact," said Remkes in an interview following Wednesday's NAAZ Committee meeting.

"When an authority of instruction that was part of the Final Accord (of November 2006-Ed.) has been dropped, and maintenance of law and order, originally supposed to be a Kingdom affair, becomes a local matter, then at least those local police organisations have to function well," he said.

A strong Joint Police Facility is necessary to fight large international organised crime. "You need a structural solution for this, one that has been anchored in a law." Remkes announced that he would come with his own proposals during the handling of the Police Law in April.

The VVD party will try today, Thursday, to get the Police Law and law to amend the Charter declared "controversial," and to have these laws handled under a new Dutch Government. But if the rest of Parliament is not willing to do so, he will rest his case on this matter. The Second Chamber will vote on the list of "controversial" laws and documents today, Thursday.

Remkes said he would have liked to visit Curaçao and St. Maarten prior to the handling of the Kingdom Consensus Laws to get more insight into the practical aspects of the execution of the laws. "I would have liked to see how St. Maarten is, for example, especially in the area of maintenance of law and order," he said.

However, because of the tight schedule and the workload, the NAAZ Committee will not be able to travel to the islands beforehand. It was decided in Wednesday's NAAZ Committee meeting to invite the Island Councils to send their comments and views in writing to the Second Chamber.

There is still a possibility that the Committee will travel to the islands during the May recess to determine whether Curaçao and St. Maarten are ready in practice to assume their new statuses. The Second Chamber has expressed concerns that St. Maarten may not be ready by 10-10-10, the target date to dismantle the Country the Netherlands Antilles.