PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs announced at the Council of Ministers press briefing that St. Maarten will be leading the discussions that are to take place with BZK and its visiting delegation that is expected to start this week, as the State Secretary will be arriving on St. Maarten today Wednesday, January 6th. Jacobs said that four persons will be arriving with the State Secretary and while he will leave the following day, two of the persons will remain on St. Maarten to start discussions on executing the conditions for the 3rd tranche. Jacobs said that the Dutch representative on St. Maarten Chris Johnson and all the country’s Secretary Generals will be part of these meetings. The country’s Prime Minister said that the Secretary Generals and Department heads will be largely involved in the discussions and the execution of the conditions St. Maarten signed on to for liquidity support.
Jacobs said that St. Maarten signed on to the agreements and while she does not agree with the conditions St. Maarten was not given any choice but to accept the conditions placed on the table by the Dutch Government.
Asked about the agreements with the various unions that are representing civil servants, the Prime Minister said that she remains open to discussions with the unions but also said that she held a Zoom meeting with the civil servants informing them the situation finds itself in. She said that the government of St. Maarten did everything possible to avoid the cuts, however, these measures were not accepted and if the government did not sign on there would not have been money in government coffers to pay the civil servants. Jacobs said that the civil servants are grateful to have a job while there are many within the community that is unemployed.
