PVV MP says one Euro too high to “get rid of” Dutch Caribbean, remarks draw strong rejection in The Hague

THE HAGUE--“One euro would still be quite a high yield." That was the remark made by Dutch Member of Parliament Elmar Vlottes of the PVV, the party of Geert Wilders and long regarded as no friend of the Dutch Caribbean, during a legislative consultation of the Parliamentary Committee for Kingdom Relations with State Secretary Eric van der Burg.

Vlottes made the comment while suggesting that an asking price of one euro to “get rid of” the Caribbean part of the Kingdom through Marktplaats would be too high. His remarks came during a meeting focused on the proposed expansion of the island councils and executive councils of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.

The PVV parliamentarian also criticized politicians on the islands, claiming they “do little and when things get difficult they ask the Netherlands for a bag of money.” He further argued that expansion of the local democratic institutions was unnecessary because, in his words, it would only result in more “hammock deputies.”

When asked by D66 Member of Parliament Heera Dijk whether the PVV saw anything positive about the islands, Vlottes indicated that he could only say that “the weather is always nice there.”

The comments immediately drew objections from other committee members. GroenLinks-PvdA Member of Parliament Mikal Tseggai objected to the remarks and asked committee chair Anouschka Biekman to intervene. Biekman responded that Members of Parliament are responsible for their own words.

State Secretary Van der Burg also rejected the tone and substance of Vlottes’ contribution, stating that he was “extremely disturbed” by the remarks. He said similar comments about islands in the European Netherlands would likely have caused major controversy.

“I can’t imagine if the same contribution had been made about, for example, islands in the European Netherlands that trouble would not have broken out in this country,” Van der Burg said. “Be cautious if you have a beam in your own eye to talk about possible splinters from someone else.”

Despite the controversy, the consultation showed that a majority in the Dutch House of Representatives supports the gradual expansion of the island councils from the March 2027 elections. Based on Van der Burg’s remarks, Bonaire and Saba appear to have dropped their earlier resistance to the proposal.

Van der Burg also moved to address remaining concerns by promising that sufficient funding would be made available for necessary adjustments. These include adapting meeting rooms, expanding support and bringing remuneration in line with the weight of the political positions on the islands, based on independent advice.

The new WolBES and FinBES, which regulate administrative and financial relations with the public entities, are expected to be submitted to the Council of State for advice this summer.

The meeting also addressed the future of the Kingdom Representative. Although it was agreed with the islands in 2024 that the position would be abolished, doubts have since emerged in The Hague. Those doubts have been linked in part to the handling of the waste crisis surrounding the landfill on Bonaire, where both the Executive Council and Island Council have faced criticism.

At the insistence of the committee, Van der Burg promised to hold further discussions with the island governments on whether the position of Kingdom Representative should be maintained.

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