He raised this issue in a Central Committee meeting on Monday and called for immediate action to remedy the situation.
Challenges such as the pension issue and general cooperation were discussed by MPs, President of the Collectivit� of St. Martin Frantz Gumbs and members of the Territorial Council when they met formally for first time in a meeting of the Dutch-side Parliament?s Central Committee on Monday.
De Weever explained that French-side residents were being told by collective health coverage SZV (formerly SVB) that they needed to supply a Dutch-side residence permit to access their benefits. ?Hundreds of people? have been told that they have ?zero coverage.? The MPs want an immediate meeting with SZV officials to correct this matter.
?We have to deal with the people who find themselves in this predicament. We can?t talk about cooperation when we have such cases. ? This is a pertinent and serious issue,? De Weever said.
He added that pensioners not paying their premiums was another scenario altogether; in this case they can?t access their benefits. His call for a meeting with the SZV officials was seconded by National Alliance (NA) MP Louie Laveist.
Collectivit� Executive Council member Alain Richardson said the denying of benefits to people because they lived on the French side ?automatically? kicked the 1648 Treaty of Concordia out of the door. ?We need to address this,? he said.
He said he was sure Gumbs also would discuss the matter with Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams as they continued to iron out structural cooperation.
Officials on the French side are battling with seniors who have not paid into the social system, but are receiving benefits, and those who no longer live on the French side.
Alain Richardson explained that some seniors who could no longer live by themselves had moved to the Dutch side to be with their children. In such a case, the benefits have to stop, because they no longer live in French territory. This has led to pensioners having to tell untruths to keep receiving their benefits, he added.
The laws and regulations governing the payout of benefits don?t take into consideration the ?closeness of the families on the island.? Richardson said the treaty was as good as ?null and void? if this continued.
Laveist called the situation with SZV tantamount to ?committing an atrocity on the most vulnerable? ? the elderly and the young people. This ?high day robbery? needs to be addressed and the two superpowers ? France and the Netherlands ? should not be allowed ?to dictate to us? how to live, he said.
Laveist said he didn?t believe in committees and wanted instead ?a joint structural approach? to correct the situation immediately. ?Let?s not put Christmas as an excuse not to address it now,? he said.
NA MP Dr. Lloyd Richardson hinted at the pension coffers being near depletion as the possible cause for the disenfranchising of people from the French side. He said the people who had worked in St. Maarten in the days of the Netherlands Antilles had made a ?greater contribution? to the pension and social premiums funds, but were now unable to access any because of the assets division with the other four former Antillean islands.
He said the two sides could claim they had been ?discriminated against? by the superpowers, because they were forced to pay for and work with two jurisdictions. ?These two great nations have put us at great disadvantage.?
Working together
NA MP Frans Richardson called on the two legislative bodies to work more closely via their permanent committees that specifically deal with health, tourism and justice, among other subjects. Working on a committee or commission level would help to deal with issues with consequence for both sides.
This suggestion was supported by MP Dr.Richardson. He said synchronising the committees would offer benefits. ?We need not only to create committees, but also to have strategies to handle complexities.?
President Gumbs said the French side had some 12 commissions on various topics and an ad hoc committee could be formed at any time. ?We are more than willing to set up parallel commissions for these areas,? he said.
Alain Richardson said cooperation existed at an executive level, but nothing at the legislative level. This is an area where work needs to be done, ?because legislation concerns the everyday lives of the people,? he said.
NA MP George Pantophlet was concerned about immigration matters, specifically the need for visas. Gumbs sees the need for harmonisation of the visa policies to close loopholes and bring clarity.
United People?s (UP) party MP Silvia Meyers-Olivacce called for a workable business structure between the Dutch and French sides to bring about ?closer togetherness for the licensed businesses.? She wants to see the creation of equal opportunity for businesses to operate on either side.
Youth problem
Some of the first issues Frans Richardson wants the proposed joint committees to tackle are population concerns, youth education and training, and creation of opportunities.
On youth, Gumbs said there was need to evaluate the real situation, so children were not left out of school.
Alain Richardson said the ?very serious and profound issue? with the youth needed to be looked at thoroughly from both sides. The committee ?can do some serious work? to come up with new solutions, because tourism may not be able to produce the needed kinds of jobs.
UP MP Dr. Ruth Douglass asked about the challenges the French side faces with catering to children born there of non-national parents. ?Lots of children are in no man?s land,? she said, pointing to this problem on the Dutch side.
Gumbs confirmed that this was an issue on the French side as well, because being naturalised there ?is a complicated process that leaves a lot of 18-year-olds in limbo. These youngsters often can?t claim the nationality of their parents or the French nationality, although they were born on the French side. You [the youngster] can?t go anywhere; you feel as if you are in a prison.?
One island
The idea of a unified St. Maarten/St. Martin is supported by MP Frans Richardson and Alain Richardson.
Frans Richardson ?would have loved to see St. Maarten as one with one government. This is still is my wish. I would like to see this before I pass on.?
?One St. Martin is a dream and objective we have to all work towards,? Alain Richardson said in agreement.
Marigot Hill Road
NA MP Hyacinth Richardson asked whether there were plans to reopen the French-side portion of Marigot Hill Road, which once served as a link between St. Peters and Concordia. He sees this road as ?a vital road link? that would help alleviate traffic congestion.
Gumbs said the opening of the road would depend on whether the areas into which the traffic would flow could handle this. He said he had heard of plans to build a road ?through the mountains? to join Bellevue and Belvedere as an alternative traffic route.
Independent MP Patrick Illidge said the two sides should ?get to the table and get things moving? on the road and other pressing issues.
Alain Richardson said the road had been discussed by authorities in 2007 and the problem with opening the road was on the St. Peters side, due to the heavy traffic congestion in that area already.
On the topic of roads, UP MP Johan ?Janchi? Leonard said there should be a ?simplification? of the road network with the French side and that its demarcation of Oyster Pond, an old dispute, should be dealt with. Gumbs said Oyster Pond was ?a delicate issue? and there were ?more pressing matters in front of us.?
Future responsibilities
President Gumbs informed MPs that the French side, based on the organic laws, would be given new responsibilities as of 2012. These would allow the urban planning and environmental codes governing St. Martin viaFranceto be adjusted and adapted to reflect the local realities.
He also explained that the status change from Municipality to Collectivit� in 2007 had made administration simpler, improved delivery of service, and had allowed for the planning and implementing of economic and fiscal policies aligned with ?our realities,? greater regional cooperation, and harmonising policy with the Dutch side.
The Collectivit� has no authority over defence or nation security, education (curriculum development), foreign affairs, health care and insurance, judicial and telecommunication matters.
The Collectivit� is headed by the president supported by four vice-presidents, two executive members and territorial councillors. Only the president?s post is a fulltime one.
President of Parliament Gracita Arrindell said this meeting with the Collectivit� had been pending since August. She was happy that this ?general encounter? had occurred before the end of the year. ?Both sides need to work to the benefit of our people,? she said.
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