Gov't pressing Sint Maarten on government ethics

The corrupt island of Sint Maarten may get even more severe intervention from the Netherlands. The smallest country in the Dutch kingdom refuses to cooperate on measures to address the corrupt governance culture, thus the cooperation may have to be enforced. The coalition stands behind a new so-called order of the National Council of Ministers. It includes all four countries of the kingdom and because the Netherlands has the majority, the measures can be enforced through the order. In October Sint Maarten was informed that candidate ministers must first be screened by Dutch officials for integrity before they can be appointed. Island Prime Minister Sarah Wescott-Williams wrote a letter to the Netherlands in which she states that they do not want to cooperate with the actions ordered by the Netherlands against corruption. She states that the Netherlands abuses its power in the National Council of Ministers and that she therefore sees the decision as "void". PvdA Parliament Member Van Laar finds that Sint Maarten had a chance to cooperate freely, but that the country has once again messed up this opportunity. He therefore wants the National Council of Ministers to give a new order to enforce anti-corruption cooperation from Sint Maarten. According to De Telegraaf, it seems that the liberals also support this, but VVD Parliament Member Bosman only states that he finds the letter from Wescott "inappropriate" and that he awaits the action of the National Council of Ministers. Minister Ronald Plasterk of Internal affairs hopes that Sint Maarten will still change their minds. "I assume that they also want an ethical government."