Budget cuts are inevitable, includ­ing those in the Kingdom Relations budget. “That, unfortunately, is the reality we live in,” State Secretary of Kingdom Relations and Digitisation Zsolt Szabó said last week during the debate on the budget in the Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament. He there­fore discouraged motions to release more money for economic projects on the islands.

The first motion submitted by Member of Parliament (MP) Mpanzu Bamenga of Democrats66 (D66) referred to the sustain­able development subsidy scheme. The previous gov­ernment released 130 mil­lion euros, but the current government reduced that to 80 million for food production in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, the road to Rincon on Bonaire and the port on Saba. In the motion, Bamenga, support­ed by GroenLinks-PvdA, asked that the remaining 50 million euros still be used for projects on the islands.

The second motion by D66, GroenLinks-PvdA and ChristenUnie was aimed at the creation of a growth platform to stimu­late economic develop­ment. “Research has been done on this at the request of the Ministry of Eco­nomic Affairs and Climate. Deloitte has advised to come up with an Economic Growth Platform Carib­bean … . I want to know why the secretary of state is doing absolutely nothing with 126 pages of advice and recommendations,” Bamenga said.

Both motions received a negative verdict from Szabó. “There is less money than we thought before the summer. That applies not only to the Kingdom Relations dossier, but also to many other depart­ments,” he said. The situa­tion makes it necessary to choose — and he expects the best results from the target­ed investments in food pro­duction, the port on Saba and roads on Bonaire.

The parliamentary votes on these motions will take place after the autumn re­cess.

The Daily Herald.