Veenendaal and Nauta say autonomy strains Caribbean governments

Wouter Veenendaal, extraordinary professor of Kingdom Relations at Leiden University, and Oberon Nauta, a senior researcher at the DSP-Group, wrote in an opinion piece that autonomy asks too much of small Caribbean countries, including Sint Maarten and Curaçao.

Veenendaal and Nauta said the Kingdom should handle tasks the countries cannot execute independently. They also said Caribbean countries and their citizens should have a stronger voice in Kingdom decision-making, including through parliamentary representation and a stronger role in the Kingdom government.

The authors said interventions in Caribbean countries occur regularly and are based on decision-making in The Hague. They said the Netherlands has given attention to good governance, public finances, financial supervision and economic reform, while taking a reactive approach to education, healthcare, social security and climate adaptation.

They linked their argument to concerns about education, healthcare, government capacity, public finances, environmental issues, migration and socio-economic conditions. They said the Kingdom Charter requires the Kingdom to guarantee fundamental human rights, including rights to education, a clean living environment and a decent standard of living.

Veenendaal and Nauta cited the Faroe Islands and Greenland within Denmark, and the Azores and Madeira within Portugal, as examples of territories with representatives in their national parliaments. They said those examples support a search for arrangements that offer equal circumstances to Kingdom citizens.