The Minister Plenipotentiary Mr. Ady Thijsen was part of a discussion during the symposium ” Living culture and a lasting society in the Kingdom” of the founding Benelux Universitair Centrum B.U.C. The symposium took place in the council chamber of the local authority the Hague. According to the president of B.U.C. Professor Dr. Anton van der Geld, this is the first symposium of the”Practical chair durable society’.
After a word of welcome from the mayor of The Hague Jan van Zanen possessed presentations by different speakers including Mr. Mildred Schwengle, state counciler of Aruba, Professor Dr. Jan Peter Balkenende, Minister of the state Reinier van Zutphen, the National state defensor of the Netherlands. Ms. Schwengle in his speech passed on some thoughts about relations in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Professor Balkenende spoke on a new orientation on the market economy in favor of a lasting society. The national state defensor held a speech about the government and citizens and how a bridge created the state defensor of the Kingdom.
After this section the program continued with the so-called “round the table discussion” where the three Ministers Plenipotentiaries of Curacao, St. Maarten and Aruba brought a presentation forward. Minister Thijsen brought his presentation where he says that there will have to come a good implementation of the “mutual arrangement” and cooperation on reforms; “the dispute settlement” should come and that better use should be made of Article 17 of the Statute, where give to the parliamentarians of the countries – at the time of participating in a debate in house of representative as “special delegates right to vote, but they already have right to delivery of amendments and motions.
The president again pointed out that, despite the fact that there is a motion to come with such an enclosure, which motion can count on a large majority as the house of the representative, the “dispute settlement” has not yet become a reality. Minister Thijsen at this point got bets from the house of the representative member for the D66 Jorien Wuite, where he states that instead of waiting for the initiative of the Government of the Netherlands to resort to a Kingdom, the Minister Plenipotentiary is mandated to come himself with a Law of the Kingdom like this. Altogether a very interesting symposium with thirteen points of view on topics regarding the relationship in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
