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A7
LOCAL Wednesday 13 July 2022

More attention on the difficult relationships within the Kingdom of

the Netherlands

Political Sciences aca- ration for the lack of solidar- such, they will not hesitate
demic from the Univer- Contradictory Statute ity and cooperation within to accuse the Netherlands
sity of Leiden, Wouter According to Veenendaal, the Kingdom.” of neo-colonial attitudes
Veenendaal, asks why re- a first explanation for these or of trying to re-colonize
lationships within the King- conflicts is based on the Veenendaal says that if the islands. By putting the
dom of the Netherlands are Statute, which after 1954 you take a look at the blame for the problems on
becoming more difficult. regulates relationships Netherlands, there is a lack the Netherlands, the rulers
“Pretty words about King- within the Kingdom. “The of knowledge and great on the Caribbean islands
dom are becoming more Statute includes a great disinterest for the Kingdom. don’t have to assume re-
empty”, he says. “King- amount of contradiction. Some Dutch surveys orga- sponsibility for their actions, tries in the Caribbean.”
dom relations are charac- On one hand it creates nized show that a big part which gives them a bigger
terized by a fierce war of a Kingdom of the Neth- of the Dutch population possibility for reelection.” Seeing the difference in
interests. A possible solu- erlands with four autono- would rather to break all population size, it can
tion is that there can be mous countries, which are ties to the islands. According to Veenendaal, only mean a few seats,
representatives for the Ca- equal to each other. But on this attitude can explain which maybe in the po-
ribbean countries within the other hand the Statute Direct ties to the Nether- why some rulers in the Ca- litical aspect might not be
the Kingdom in the Dutch creates a fourth country, lands ribbean go into drastic ac- too heavy, according to
Parliament, which can be which is the Netherlands, This point of view already tion, like the hunger strike of Veenendaal. “But on the
controlled by the Kingdom which is a lot more power- existed within the Dutch former Aruban prime minis- other hand, it will mean
Government. Denmark is ful than the others.” government, particularly ter, Mike Eman; the threat that the voice of the Ca-
proof that this is not some- during the decades of 70s to burn Dutch military ribbean electorate will be
thing that is irealistic.” The Kingdom government is to 90s of last century, who men that Clyde van Put- heard in the Dutch political
practically the Dutch gov- wanted to push the islands ten made in Sint Eustatius, debate and other parties
Veenendaal said this in an ernment, and the only con- in the direction of indepen- or the complaint of racism in Parliament will have to
opinion written and pub- trol body is the Dutch Par- dence. Finally the opposite against the Netherlands at engage with this. More so,
lished by the Netherlands liament. The citizens of the took place. Netherlands the United Nations deliv- it is the case that the four
Aruba Association (Ge- Dutch Countries in the Ca- Antilles fell apart, and each ered by Sint Maarten. seats of Greenland and
nootschap Nederland Aru- ribbean do not have any of the countries formed di- Faeroe Islands in the Danish
ba) in its latest newsletter. right to vote in the Tweede rect ties to the Netherlands. Fierce war of interests Parliament sometimes are
Veenendaal explores the Kamer (Dutch Congress) On each side of the ocean crucial for the formation
effects of the population and this contributes to the “Now that it’s clear that there is regular talk of the of coalitions, which gives
size for democracy, with democratic deficit which is the countries will stay in the Kingdom of the Nether- these representatives politi-
special focus on the poli- often debated. Kingdom, the strategy in lands with pretty words, but cal power.”
tics of small island states. The Hague is directed on because of the repetitive
Between 2014 and 2017, he “Statute gives the Kingdom limiting, as much as pos- conflicts, sound more emp- More balanced Kingdom
carried out an investigation government the right to sible, the disadvantages of ty. In reality, Veenendaal relations
on the six islands that were take measures to guaran- Kingdom relations for the says that in practice rela- According to Veenendaal,
part of the Netherlands An- tee democracy, rule of law Netherlands. This means tionships within the King- his proposition for repre-
tilles For KITLV – Koninklijk In- and good governance in that there is more inter- dom are marked especially sentation in the Dutch Par-
stituut voor Taal-, Land- en the autonomous countries. vention and this is more by a fierce war of interests, liament is an institutional
Volkenkunde (Royal Insti- And even though all coun- assertive.” Veenendaal which among other things change which can guaran-
tute of Linguistics, Land and tries are equal and auton- says that COHO – The Ca- can be explained by rea- tee better representation
Ethnology.) omous, in practice there ribbean Body for Reform sons of elections. But the of the electorate from the
is only one country which and Development – is an question remains if this can Caribbean countries in the
Veenendaal shows how can unilaterally intervene in example. “The Dutch politi- be changed. Kingdom institutions. “This
as always the countries in the other three countries.” cians know that their voters could be a better first step
the Caribbean see the ap- in general have little feel- Veenendaal argues that for more balanced King-
pointment of State Secre- Different interpretations ing for the Kingdom and one solution can be to dom relations. This change
tary for Kingdom Relations, The Statute creates room will not doubt to assume a have Caribbean represen- can result in a better under-
Alexandra van Huffelen as for different interpretations, strong position against the tatives in the Tweede Kam- standing of the motivations
an opportunity to restore Veenendaal continues. Caribbean countries.” er. He thinks there is an ex- of the politicians in the Ca-
the relationship which has “Authorities of the Carib- ample to show that a pos- ribbean countries and the
become badly affected. bean countries emphasize Polarized politics sible voter participation in Netherlands, and could re-
The same hope, however, autonomy and equality of The situation in the Ca- the Caribbean countries to duce the existing contrary
existed each time that a their countries, while Dutch ribbean countries is ex- elect representatives in the positions in the political cul-
new State Secretary is ap- politicians emphasize the actly the opposite, where Tweede Kamer might work. ture.”
pointed. Despite the pretty function of warranty of the particularly after the Co-
words, the countries and Kingdom. This illustrates that vid pandemic, there is a Denmark also has overseas Finally, Veenendaal be-
The Hague find themselves not necessarily the struc- struggle with economic territories, namely Green- lieves that the presence of
confronting each other ture of the Kingdom forms a and social problems. All land and Faeroe Islands. the legislative representa-
once more in conflict. Ac- barrier for cooperation, but three countries have turbu- Each sends representatives tives from the Caribbean
cording to Veenendaal, rather the different interests lent and polarized politics, to the Danish Parliament. in the Dutch Parliament
there is little indication that on each side of the ocean. Veenendaal says. Politi- “If we translate this to the could produce a better un-
the Kingdom Relations Dutch politicians and from cians of the Caribbean Dutch situation, it will mean derstanding of and for the
this time will change and the Caribbean are chosen countries know that play- a few fixed seats in Par- islands among the Dutch
improve fundamentally. by groups which are very ing the game against the liament (Tweede Kamer) voters, who at that point
“What makes coopera- different, and they need to Netherlands works well with and possibly in the Senate will be constantly reminded
tion and working together be responsible to their vot- their voters and distracts (Eerste Kamer) which will that the Kingdom of the
within the Kingdom so dif- ers. This electoral interest attention from the prob- be reserved for representa- Netherlands isn’t limited to
ficult?” the academic asks. forms an important decla- lems on the islands. “As tives from the three coun- Europe.