Atlantic Sentinel

Tag: Small Regions and States

  • Macron Promises Corsica Autonomy After Violent Protests

    Calvi Corsica
    Night falls on the harbor of Calvi, Corsica, October 15, 2019 (Unsplash/Hannah Wright)

    Corsica was rocked by violent protests this month after Yvan Colonna, a Corsican nationalist, was attacked in a French prison by a fellow inmate. Colonna died of his wounds on Monday.

    He was serving a life sentence in Arles, a small city west of Marseilles, for the murder of Claude Érignac, Corsica’s top regional official in 1998. Colonna had petitioned several times to be transferred to a Corsican prison but was denied every time.

    Despite widespread condemnation across Corsican society of Érignac’s murder, Colonna was still viewed by many as a nationalist hero. The fact that he died in a prison in mainland France added insult to injury. As did the fact that he was killed by a convicted jihadist of African descent. Relations between Corsica’s native and immigrant populations have been tense for years. (more…)

  • Curaçao Accepts Dutch Supervision of Economic Reforms

    Willemstad Curaçao
    View of Willemstad, Curaçao (iStock)

    The new government of Curaçao has accepted Dutch supervision of economic reforms it is expected to carry out as part of a COVID-19 rescue plan.

    Parties led by Gilmar Pisas won the election in March on a promise to oppose supervision.

    The now-prime minister defended his about-face by arguing Curaçao’s back was “against the wall.”

    Which was the same argument his predecessor, Eugene Rhuggenaath, made in the election campaign, when Pisas rejected it. (more…)

  • Britain Walks Back Commitment to Gibraltar

    Gibraltar
    Gibraltar at dusk (Shutterstock/Philip Lange)

    Did the British not read the fine print when they signed their Brexit deals?

    Not only do they regret agreeing to a lay a customs border down the Irish Sea to avoid the need for passport checks and inspections of goods on the Ireland-Northern Ireland border; they also have second thoughts about their agreement with Spain for Gibraltar. (more…)

  • Curaçao Election Result Will Set Off Alarm Bells in Netherlands

    Willemstad Curaçao
    Flag of Curaçao in Willemstad (iStock/Flavio Vallenari)

    Two days after parliamentary elections in the European Netherlands, voters on Curaçao, one of the three autonomous Dutch islands in the Caribbean, went to the polls on Friday.

    The result was a resounding victory for the populist Movement for the Future of Curaçao (MFK), led by Gilmar Pisas, which won nine out of 21 seats in the island Estates. (more…)

  • Dutch Intervene to Break Stalemate in Curaçao Legislature

    Willemstad Curaçao
    View of Willemstad, Curaçao (iStock)

    The Dutch government has intervened on Curaçao to break what it described as an “antidemocratic” impasse on the island.

    The government of what is nominally an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands had requested the intervention to reconstitute the island legislature. “At the moment,” Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath said earlier this week, “democracy isn’t functioning on Curaçao as it should be.”

    All ten opposition lawmakers refused to attend virtual meetings of the Estates, denying the ruling parties, who also have ten seats, a quorum to swear in a tie-breaking deputy: Emmilou Capriles, who succeeds Jeser El Ayoubi.

    The Dutch government has now appointed Capriles by decree.

    The same opposition lawmakers tried to use the death of a ruling party lawmaker to bring down the government last summer. They failed, but not before encouraging riots. (more…)

  • Gibraltar Brexit Deal is Victory for Spain

    Gibraltar
    View from the Rock of Gibraltar, December 20, 2018 (Unsplash/Michal Mrozek)

    Gibraltar is joining the Schengen free-travel area and will accept European border guards in its ports.

    The agreement, reached shortly before New Year’s between the governments of Britain and Spain, avoids the need for a hard border and pulls the Rock closer into the European Union than it was before.

    It is a victory for Spanish nationalists, who have long dreamed of regaining a foothold in Gibraltar after three centuries of British rule.

    Accomplished, ironically, by a left-wing government. (more…)

  • Aruba, Curaçao Agree to Terms of Dutch Coronavirus Aid

    Royal Plaza Mall Oranjestad Aruba
    Royal Plaza Mall in Oranjestad, Aruba, February 10, 2015 (Thomas Hawk)

    Aruba and Curaçao have agreed to liberalize their economies in order to qualify for continued financial support from the European Netherlands, without which the islands would almost certainly go bankrupt.

    The coronavirus pandemic has brought tourism, on which the islands depend, close to a standstill.

    Sint Maarten, the third autonomous Dutch island in the Caribbean, has yet to meet the terms of Dutch aid, which include cutting public-sector salaries by 12.5 to 25 percent. (more…)

  • Caribbean, European Netherlands Close In on Bailout Deal

    The Hague Netherlands
    Dutch government offices and parliament buildings in The Hague (iStock/Fotolupa)

    Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten are closing in on a deal with the European Netherlands for hundreds of millions of euros in support to cope with the impact of COVID-19.

    The sticking point in negotiations has been the Netherlands’ insistence that Dutch officials would carry out and monitor economic reforms on which the bailout is conditioned; a demand Caribbean leaders argue is incompatible with their autonomy.

    Prime Minister Eugene Rhuggenaath of Curaçao, the largest of the three self-governing islands, told lawmakers this week that a compromise is at hand.

    The Dutch supervisors would remain, but any decisions they take that affect spending and taxes would need to be ratified by the island legislatures.

    The government of Curaçao would also be consulted on the appointment of one of the three supervisors.

    Antilliaans Dagblad reports that a majority of lawmakers on Curaçao could agree to those terms.

    But Raymond Knops, the Dutch state secretary for the interior, sounded less optimistic on Tuesday, when he told parliamentarians in The Hague that the three islands are currently unable to “bear” their autonomy. (more…)

  • Spain Proposes Schengen Membership for Gibraltar

    Gibraltar
    Bay of Algeciras seen from the Rock of Gibraltar (Unsplash/Freja Saurbrey)

    Politico reports that Spain has proposed to include Gibraltar in the EU’s passport-free Schengen Area to facilitate cross-border travel.

    The arrangement would be similar to Liechtenstein’s, which is not in the EU but a member of Schengen. Andorra is negotiating a similar status. Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City are in neither the EU nor Schengen but maintain open borders.

    The proposal is backed by Gibraltar’s chief minister, Fabian Picardo.

    96 percent of his citizens voted to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum, but they were overruled by majorities in England and Wales.

    Although Britain formally left the EU at the end of 2019, the bloc’s rules and regulations still apply until the end of 2020.

    Gibraltar, like Britain, was never in the Schengen Area, but it was in the EU single market, allowing it to trade freely with the EU’s 27 other member states. Before the pandemic, commuters were typically waved through by Spanish border police. (more…)

  • Dutch Caribbean Islands on the Brink

    Willemstad Curaçao
    View down the Breedestraat in Willemstad, Curaçao (Unsplash/Lakeisha Bennett)

    Time is running out for the autonomous Dutch islands in the Caribbean to do a deal with their former colonizer.

    Coronavirus has brought tourism, the mainstay of the island economies, close to a standstill. Tax revenue has dried up while unemployment has soared. Without support from the European Netherlands, the governments of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten will run out of money in weeks.

    The Dutch are willing to help, but only if the islands accept temporary Dutch administrators to manage reforms. For most of the Caribbean politicians, this goes too far. (more…)

  • Politicians Break Deadlock on Curaçao

    Willemstad Curaçao
    Flag of Curaçao in Willemstad (iStock/Flavio Vallenari)

    Weeks of political deadlock on Curaçao have been broken with the swearing-in of Shaheen Elhage as lawmaker. He succeeds William Millerson, who died in June.

    Millerson’s death had reduced the government to ten out of 21 seats in the island’s legislature. Opposition parties refused to attend Elhage’s inauguration, denying the ruling parties a quorum. They are unhappy with cuts and reforms the government is enacting to qualify for financial support from the Netherlands.

    One opposition lawmaker, Marilyn Moses, did attend parliament on Monday.

    The other nine, seven of whom want independence from the Netherlands, still didn’t show. (more…)

  • Contrast in the Dutch Caribbean

    Royal Plaza Mall Oranjestad Aruba
    Royal Plaza Mall in Oranjestad, Aruba, February 10, 2015 (Thomas Hawk)

    The government of the Aruba, a Dutch island in the Caribbean, has presented a five-point plan to restructure its tourism-dependent economy, which has been decimated by COVID-19.

    Meanwhile on neighboring Curaçao, pro-independence parties are boycotting the inauguration of a pro-government lawmaker, bringing politics on the island to a standstill.

    The two islands, and Sint Maarten, are autonomous countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands and have yet to approve Dutch terms for financial support to cope with the effects of coronavirus. (more…)

  • Democrats Should Give Caribbean and Pacific Islands Statehood

    San Juan Puerto Rico
    San Juan, Puerto Rico (Unsplash/Wei Zeng)

    Donald Trump is disliked by so many Americans that Democrats could win not just the presidency but the Senate in November.

    Longer term, however, Republicans have baked-in advantages that make Democratic control of the upper chamber elusive.

    The solution: turn America’s overseas dependencies into states. That would give 3.5 million Americans the federal representation they deserve and add ten more seats to the Senate, most of which would lean Democratic. (more…)

  • Dutch Caribbean Resist Terms of Coronavirus Aid

    Willemstad Curaçao
    Cruise ships moored in Willemstad, Curaçao (Shutterstock/Galina Savina)

    The prime ministers of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten have turned down conditions to qualify for as much as €1 billion in coronavirus aid from the European Netherlands. A cabinet meeting in The Hague on Friday, which the leaders of the three islands attended, failed to produce a compromise.

    The Dutch have proposed appointing a three-person panel to oversee reforms to which the aid is tied. The Caribbean islands consider this an infringement of their autonomy.

    Eugene Rhuggenaath, the prime minister of Curaçao, went so far as to accuse The Hague of having “an agenda for the takeover and control” of the islands, echoing the rhetoric of pro-independence parties that supported violent protests against spending cuts two weeks ago, which prompted the Dutch to deploy troops to support the local police. (more…)

  • Dutch Deploy Troops After Riots on Curaçao

    Dutch frigate Zeeland
    Dutch frigate HNLMS Zeeland on patrol in the Caribbean Sea (Ministerie van Defensie)

    The Netherlands is deploying troops to Curaçao, one of the kingdom’s islands in the Caribbean, following several days of rioting and unrest.

    The decision was taken with local police, who announced that, as a result of the deployment, a two-day curfew could be lifted on Friday. (more…)