~ State Secretary did not respond to St. Maarten~
PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister of St. Maarten Silveria Jacobs said on Wednesday that there is still no agreement with the Dutch Government with regards the continued financial support. Jacobs said discussions are ongoing with the CFT and that St. Maarten’s Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion just last week sent another proposal to the CFT which would avoid the government from cutting the salaries of civil servants.
Jacobs explained that St. Maarten received the new copy of the draft law to establish the Dutch Caribbean Entity. She said comparison is being done to see exactly what changes are made in this new document compared to the previous draft law to establish the Caribbean Reform Entity. St. Maarten’s Prime Minister said while Curacao and Aruba were able to sign agreements St. Maarten has not reached there as yet. She lamented that the State Secretary Raymond Knops is currently in the Caribbean and he did not make any contact with the Government of St. Maarten.
The government is also planning to meet with Department Heads as well as all Civil Servants starting today Wednesday to discuss the planned cuts to their salaries since the CFT did not recognize the cuts St. Maarten made as the requested cuts demanded by the Dutch Government. While not disclosing how much government plans to cut, Jacobs said that the government is also seeking to meet with the unions to also discuss the planned cuts.
