~Press asked to leave meeting~
PHILIPSBURG--Tuesday's Central Committee meeting between Parliament and the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT was deemed a closed-door session by President of Parliament Gracita Arrindell which in effect barred the press and stopped the live broadcast of the session on television and radio.
Arrindell told representatives of this newspaper and Radio Soualiga who were present in Parliament's Press Room that they had to leave just before the meeting started because the CFT wanted a closed session and would give information at its press conference today, Wednesday.
The journalists were told by Arrindell (UP), after they protested that no notification was given to the press or the public about the meeting being in camera, that if they did not leave they would be "escorted out of the building."
She added that the Members of Parliament (MPs) were informed on Monday that the session was closed. However, there was no follow-up notification to the press or public to inform about this change. Arrindell had issued a press release on Sunday night about the Central Committee meeting with no mention of the session being closed.
A member of the public who turned up for the meeting was not allowed to sit in the public gallery.
After leaving the Press Room, Arrindell instructed a staff member from the Department of Communication (formerly the Government Information Service) to turn off the audio and video feed to the room.
Based on Article 60 of the Constitution, Parliament meetings are public. An in camera session can be held if this is considered necessary by the President of Parliament or if this is demanded by four Members of Parliament (MPs). The meeting is entitled to resolve, by two-thirds of the votes cast, that it shall deliberate and make decisions in camera.
In Tuesday's case, the CFT asked for the meeting to be closed. MP Roy Marlin of the Democratic Party (DP) queried at the beginning of the session why the session was closed and was told about the CFT request by Arrindell.
As the meeting continued, Marlin left to talk about the matter with the journalists present. He said he raised the question about why the meeting was closed because he believes that if Parliament has a meeting it should be open to the public. "I also respect the fact that if a third party wants to meet Parliament behind closed doors. Sometimes it gives the third party the opportunity to say things that they would not normally say in a public session. If it gives a third party an opportunity to say things they would not normally say, I have no objections to that."
Marlin said that based on the information obtained in a meeting, an MP can form an opinion and be able to make decisions. All meetings of Parliament are crucial and important for the public, but if a third party requests a closed session, Parliament has "to weigh it very carefully."
In a later Kingdom Affairs Committee meeting, Arrindell asked for the position of the CFT to be placed on the agenda of the Kingdom Parliamentary Consultation Meeting slated for June 13 in The Hague. She wants to specifically discuss the right of Parliament to have the final say on the country's budget because the developments surrounding the 2011 budget showed that Parliament's authority was not fully respected.
Also present for the meeting with CFT were MPs Jules James, Romain Laville, Dr. Ruth Douglass, Johan Leonard and Silvia Meyers-Olivacce of the United People's party (UP), Leroy de Weever (DP), Patrick Illidge (independent), George Pantophlet and Dr. Lloyd Richardson of the National Alliance.
Roberto Mancini JLS Protest Norway Alexander Litvinenko London
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