Caretaker State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Alexandra van Huffelen finds PVV’s victory in the recent Dutch parlia­mentary elections worrisome, particularly because of the far-right party’s negative attitude towards the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom of the Neth­erlands.

Though it is still unclear if the PVV will be able to form a government coalition, Van Huffelen expressed her con­cerns during a digital press conference after Friday’s Kingdom Council of Ministers RMR.

“Personally, I find it very wor­risome that a party that is not particularly fond of the islands has won,” and even gained votes on the islands, the state secretary said.

Van Huffelen also mentioned that a PVV party represen­tative proposed selling the islands on Marktplaats, the Dutch version of eBay. Similarly, the caretaker state sec­retary expressed her concern regarding the Dutch slavery apology, as the PVV manifes­to states that the formal apol­ogy must be renounced.

Though she emphasised that both proposals would not re­ceive enough support in the Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament, Van Huffelen be­lieves that these statements demonstrate PVV’s stance when it comes to Caribbean-related issues.

But, stressed the state sec­retary, she will try her utmost to finalise projects within the kingdom before the new gov­ernment has been formed. “In other words, I am only extra motivated to, in the time I still have left — and that could take longer than usual — work real­ly hard with the governments and Parliaments of the coun­tries and the public entities and island councils to achieve everything we wish to achieve together.”

The Daily Herald.