Members of the Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations KOREL of the First Chamber of the Dutch Parliament are visiting the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom February 9-19. The senators arrive in St. Maarten tonight, Monday evening.

The senators visit Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten, Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba to learn more about the six islands and their unique characteristics. This work visit must provide context for the various dossiers the committee will be handling in the coming four years, according to a press release on Thursday, February 8.

On the islands, the senators will visit diverse projects concerning education, economic development, tourism, health care, migration, and water management. They will not only meet with government officials, members of parliament (MPs), and other dignitaries but also with teachers, justice workers, and representatives of various religions.

Since 2012, it has become customary for the committee members to travel to the six islands at the beginning of their term. According to Committee Chairman Paul Rosenmoller (Groenlinks-PvdA party), these visits are extremely valuable to the committee members.

“They determine the agenda and the atmosphere in the committee in the coming years. The discussions will be enriching and will enable us to do our work with the contexts in mind. The future of each of the three countries and the three islands of the Caribbean Netherlands takes center stage. ‘How must we proceed in the coming years? What is needed to that end? Is there a role for the Netherlands, and our co-legislator?’ Those are questions that will certainly be addressed,” he said.

The delegation consists of Rosenm011er, Tekke Pan-man (BBB Party), Jeroen Recourt (Groenlinks-PvdA party), Rian Vogels (VVD party), Theo Rietkerk (CDA party), Boris Dittrich (D66 party), Alexander van Hattem (PVV party), Bastiaan van Apeldoorn (SP party), Eric Holter-hues (ChristenUnie party), Peter Nicolal (PvdD par-ty), Karin van Bijsterveld (Ja21), Peter Schalk (SGP party), Eddy Hartog (Volt party), Martin van Rooijen (50PLUS party) and Auke van der Groot (OPNL party).

The Daily Herald