WILLEMSTAD .- “I think it is incredible that to this day in the Dutch Kingdom, after years of common history, we still see a very great lack of respect and also a lack of trust and solidarity between the parties and partners of the Dutch Kingdom.” Thus the president of the Parliament of Curaçao and leader of the Delegation of the Parliament of Curaçao, Mr. William Millerson said yesterday during the opening of the IPKO Interparliamentary Conference in Sint Maarten. Millerson explained that as parliamentarians they are present in IPKO to work hard in order to improve the welfare of the people of the different countries of the Dutch Kingdom. “If the situation is good for the people of Holland, Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten, it means that things are good for the community. If all things are going well for the communities of these four countries, it means that everything is fine for the Dutch Kingdom. The importance of IPKO is that during the conference all parties can work together and share knowledge, and with this, we can strengthen our ties.
According to Millerson there have been ties in the Kingdom since the year 1634. Since 1954 a Statute is known for the countries of the Dutch Kingdom. Millerson emphasizes that the countries of the Kingdom have a common history for a long time. “In the Statute it was written that the countries have to deal with the interests of other countries, and that we must take others into account, on a basis of equivalence.” According to Millerson, the Statute also explains, how many common interests have to be protected. It is also important that the countries of the Kingdom support and safegaurd each other. “But the reality is that the Government of the Netherlands comes with a proposal for a dispute settlement that is far from the wishes of the four parliaments of the Kingdom, and to top it off, they have a mayor in the city of Leeuwarden, who came with a plan to discourage the Antilleans who have prospects to stay in the city, we received this news with great indignation. ” According to Millerson, this shows very clearly that there is a very great lack of respect in the Dutch Kingdom with respect to the Caribbean Islands.
