ST MAARTEN — After nine years of tireless and relentless work, Team St. Maarten brought home a firm, irrevocable date for country status: October 10, 2010. Leader of Government Constitutional Affairs Commissioner William Marlin commended the team – in particular the advisors – who have poured countless hours into the struggle to break from the Netherlands Antilles and become a country within the Dutch Kingdom.

The date 10-10-10 was signed off on by the Dutch Government, Central Government and Island Governments of St. Maarten and Curaçao last Wednesday night in the World Trade Center in Curaçao. The Antilles of five islands will cease to exist on this date, and in its place, two new countries St. Maarten and Curaçao will emerge, along with three public entities of the Netherlands: Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. This is the first time in the process of dismantling the Antilles, started by St. Maarten’s referendum on June 23, 2000, that a firm date has been set. In the past there were several target dates but nothing to which the Dutch Government had affixed a signature.

Marlin, Finance Commissioner Xavier Blackman and opposition Democratic Party leader Island Councilwoman Sarah Wescot-Williams commended the island’s smart and fierce group of advisors, who had found solutions in the face of many road blocks. Team St. Maarten has long been the banner under which government and opposition, armed with advisors, have waged the battle to get the status the people voted for in the June 2000 referendum.

Just off the airport from Curaçao at midday Thursday, Marlin singled out Project Director for Constitutional Affairs Dennis Richardson for always finding a solution to every barrier, even if this meant few hours of sleep.

Wednesday’s Kingdom Political Steering Group meeting was very gruelling, but as the day wore on, and with “some give and take,” the team returned home with a signed agreement with a date for country status, Marlin said.

This is not the end of the road, because there is still a lot more to be done, the commissioner told the press in the Soualiga Business Lounge of Princess Juliana International Airport. Now is when the country has to emerge by taking up decentralised responsibilities and improving its infrastructure to better serve its people, he added.

This date for country status is not without conditions. Another Kingdom Steering Group meeting is planned for December in St. Maarten, to iron out the details of the Wednesday agreement. Chief among these is the progress committee that will be put in place to vet the readiness of the islands to assume the role of Country within the Kingdom.

Commissioner Blackman was equally full of praise for the dedication and hard work of the team. He pressed that the setting of 10-10-10 had been significant, and should not be tainted by talk of compromise, because this had been a joint decision of all partners. This message was reinforced by Dutch State Secretary for Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten, Antillean Prime Minister Emily de Jongh-Elhage, Curaçao Constitutional Affairs Commissioner Zita Jesus-Leito and Marlin.

Blackman added that Wednesday’s agreement also served to hasten the preparation of the necessary infrastructure for St. Maarten to receive tasks from the Central Government, and with this the personnel and budgeted amounts to carry out the work.

He also said there was still a lot of work to be done but added that “a lot of doors to go back [wards] have been closed [in the constitutional process].”

Wescot-Williams said the pinning down of 10-10-10 was “another definite step in the transition from Island Territory to Country [within the Dutch Kingdom].” This was the result of nine years of bittersweet battles, but the goal had been accomplished by the “small but dedicated” team of St. Maarten. (See related story)

Head of the team of advisors and former Constitutional Affairs Minister Richard Gibson said it was a “great pleasure” to witness the signing of the agreement that would bring an end to the “fiction” of the Netherlands Antilles that had been “an iron ball” on the feet of progress, for St. Maarten in particular.

Using the old emancipation cry, “free at last, free at last, free at last,” a very fiery Gibson said all doubters of the constitutional change process could now be quiet, but added that there was still a lot more to be accomplished to be ready as a country, come 10-10-10. “The work really starts now.”

Gibson is now charged with getting the Justice System and Police Force ready for Country St. Maarten. Justice is one of the areas which may end up under supervision, should the necessary organisation not be in place in time for October 10. He said work was progressing in this area to ensure the safety of the island’s residents, and to see to it that the force was not left empty-handed in the face of crime.

Dennis Richardson thanked the team for its hard work and commended the political leadership, present and past, for having stood tall and for having given the advisors the opportunity to steer the technical aspects of the dismantling. With teamwork, the end of a country had been realised without bloodshed or a single shot being fired, he noted

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