Island Council expansion declared controversial by Dutch parliament

The discussion on the expansion of the Executive Councils and Island Councils of Bonaire, St. Eustatius, and Saba has been delayed. The Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament’s Committee for Kingdom Rela­tions decided on Wednesday to declare the move “controversial” and leave the decision to the next Dutch government, which could take months to form.

The topic was raised during the procedural meeting, where the committee discusses current de­velopments and the planning. The committee was originally supposed to set a date for submit­ting written questions about the planned expansion, but left-wing alliance GroenLinks-PvdA Mem­ber of Parliament (MP) Mikal Tseggai objected.

“Following the discussion with the Bonaire Island Council, I think we should declare this con­troversial,” she said. Four com­mittee members voted in favour and three were against.

The bill to expand the island councils was submitted to the Second Chamber earlier this month.

Under the draft law, the number of commissioners in Bonaire will increase from three to four, and in St. Eustatius and Saba from two to three. The number of Is­land Council Members in Bo­naire will increase from nine to eleven, and in St. Eustatius and Saba from five to seven. The caretaker Dutch government hopes to have these chang­es in place in time for local elections in March 2027. The decision to postpone the amendment appears to be primarily related to the haste with which the expan­sion is being implemented. Most members of the Parliamentary Committee for Kingdom Relations are new and want time to delve into this topic. During the negotiations on the legisla­tive amendment, Bonaire’s Island Council also indi­cated that support for the Island Council is more im­portant than expansion.

The Daily Herald.