THE HAGUE--The Dutch Council of Ministers on Friday approved a proposal to establish a transitional arrangement that regulates the admission of Dutch citizens on the BES islands of Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba. The arrangement protects the islands from an influx of Dutch citizens.

The proposal, presented by caretaker Minister of Justice Ernst Hirsch Ballin and caretaker State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten, arranged for the existing rules for the admission of Dutch citizens to remain in effect until the Kingdom Law that regulates the movement of persons is implemented on the BES islands.

The transitional arrangement was needed to prevent that a gap between the moment that the three islands become part of the Netherlands as "public entities" and the implementation of the Movement of Persons Kingdom Law.

The Dutch Government considered it "undesirable" in this transitional arrangement, to implement unilaterally the Movement of Persons Kingdom Law for all Dutch citizens in the Kingdom in a limited part of the Kingdom, the BES islands.

In the absence of a transitional arrangement, in principle, all Dutch citizens would have had free admission to the BES islands, whereas the other countries, including the future countries Curaçao and St. Maarten, would not have that free access.

This, argued the Dutch Kingdom Council of Ministers, would not be in agreement with the intended reciprocity in a Movement of Person Kingdom Law. It was for this reason that The Hague opted to maintain the existing rules for the time being.

The point of departure of the Persons Movement Kingdom Law is to create a uniform regime that regulates free access of all Dutch citizens with as few restrictive conditions as possible. The law would be applicable to all countries in the Kingdom.

The transitional arrangement will be sent to the Second Chamber in the form of an amendment to the Admittance and Expulsion Law BES, the LTU BES. This law proposal has already been sent to the Second Chamber where the initial handling will take place on April 15.

LTU BES regulates the admission of foreigners to the BES islands, and after the addition of the transitional arrangement, the access of Dutch citizens to these islands.

PHILIPSBURG--Independent Island Councilman Louie Laveist has queried why salaries of St. Maarten Island Council members will only be determined when the new and expanded council is elected and not immediately as is the case with the BES islands Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.

The "Duncan Law," an amendment to the Islands Regulation ERNA adopted by the Antillean Parliament Wednesday, makes it possible for the BES islands to determine immediately, via an Island Resolution, the salaries and benefits for their council members.

This is not immediate for St. Maarten, but no explanation was given about why the differentiation was made.

Laveist said the battle for equality in salaries for council members in St. Maarten had been waged for years and an adjustment to the Duncan Law was "an opportunity to right a wrong."

National Alliance (NA) Parliamentarians George Pantophlet and Rodolphe Samuel had tabled the addition to allow the islands instead of the Central Government/Parliament to regulate the pay of their council members.

Island Council membership is deemed part-time and members receive only a stipend for their time. In future country status, St. Maarten's council will become Parliament and membership will be fulltime.

The regulation of salaries was to be a measure to regulate already the salaries/benefits. Curaçao is the only island of the Netherlands Antilles with salaried Island Council members. This has long been considered an inequality by St. Maarten and BES members. It was also an area that Laveist, as a parliamentarian in the early 2000s, had fought extensively to correct.

Laveist asked the NA-led government, which he supports, to provide a copy of the Duncan Law and the amendment as tabled by Pantophlet and Samuel. The request is "purely for information" and is not a signal of any rift between him and government.

"I want to know what the thought is on St. Maarten members having to wait until a new Island Council is elected," Laveist said.

From perusing the law and the motion tabled by the NA parliamentarians, Laveist hopes to find a way to still correct this "inequality" so the salaries can be acted on now by the Island Council.

The Duncan Law makes it possible for the dissolution of the Island Councils of St. Maarten and Curaçao, and early elections. The law also allows for the expansion of St. Maarten's Island Council from 11 to 15 members, and the Executive Council from five to seven commissioners, in preparation for country status.

It is up to the Executive Council to call elections for the Island Council. The current term of the Island Council is slated to end in June 2011.

PHILIPSBURG--A new management policy for Stichting Overheids Gebouwen (SOG), the foundation that manages the Festival Village and other government buildings, is currently being finalised by the SOG board and will be submitted to the Executive Council for approval.

SOG's projected target date to have this new management policy plan completed is one month. The foundation gave an estimate of NAf. 380,000 on the 2010 budget for the execution of the new plan.

Structural maintenance of the Festival Village is included in this new plan, something the foundation cannot carry out at present because of lack of funding. Another key aspect of the plan is the amount that will be charged to organisers of events who wish to use the facility.

The purpose of the restructured fees in the plan is primarily to increase the usage of the Village, a facility which some in the community have dubbed the "second white elephant right across from the first" (the new Administration Building).

In its three-year history, besides Carnival and a handful of other events, the Festival Village has not fulfilled its hyped potential as St. Maarten's premier venue for all events, big or small.

SOG Vice President Kurt Ruan said last year, "Our intention is to offer more affordable prices and/or affordable package deals to the general public. At present, the Executive Council sets the prices for use of the Village. We believe that some adjustment in prices can be made to increase utilisation of the Village."

At present, the pricing is determined based on the price of tickets for any given event. Events that are free or have tickets priced at US $5 have to pay $2,500 to use the Village. If the entrance fee is between $6 and $10, the user has to pay $3,500; between $11 and $20, the price goes up to $5,000; and if entrance fees are $21 and up, the Village cost is $7,500. These fees do not include sound, light, and security services.

To support this new plan, the foundation held an open bidding for light, sound, security, marketing, cleaning, garbage collection, and pest control service providers.

THE HAGUE--Dutch State Secretary for Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten shares the concerns of the Second Chamber about reports of illegal abortion practices in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.

She stated this in response to questions posed by Members of Dutch Parliament (MPs) Ineke van Gent of the green left party GroenLinks and Johan Remkes of the liberal democratic VVD party. Van Gent and Remkes posed questions about illegal abortion practices on the islands following media reports and the thesis of Wendele van der Wiele.

Bijleveld-Schouten has forwarded several of the questions by Van Gent and Remkes to the Governments of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba with the request to provide information. The MPs had asked about the consequences of the legal prohibition of abortion on the islands.

Van Gent and Remkes wanted to know how many women resorted to alternative methods to provoke abortion, which methods these women used, and what the health consequences were of these alternative methods. They also asked about the supervision of medical tolerability of these alternative methods. They wanted to know whether it was true that general practitioners performed abortions, but that because of the high cost involved, women resorted to alternative methods.

Bijleveld-Schouten said in first instance, this matter concerned the internal affairs of the governments of the islands. She wanted to await the answers by the Governments of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba to obtain a better insight into the size and nature of the problem.

The State Secretary said the Second Chamber, in early March, approved an amendment by Remkes, Van Gent, and John Leerdam of the Labour Party PvdA, to legalise abortion on the BES islands of Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba in one year. Abortion is legal in the Netherlands and the Second Chamber agreed that this was a fundamental right of women that should also apply to the BES islands when they become part of the Netherlands as "public entities."