Report warns St. Maarten could lose important help After 2027 if reform deal is not extended

GREAT BAY--The new reform evaluation report (see related story) is warning that St. Maarten could lose important outside support for its reform efforts after April 2027 if the current cooperation agreement with the Netherlands is not extended. The report says the current arrangement ends in April 2027, and recommends that a decision on extending it for St. Maarten should be made by the second quarter of 2026.

The report makes clear that this matters a lot for St. Maarten because the country still faces serious limits in manpower, government capacity, and the ability to carry out many large reforms at the same time. Of the three Caribbean countries in the arrangement, Aruba, Curaçao, and St. Maarten, the report points to St. Maarten as the one facing the greatest capacity pressure.

Right now, St. Maarten benefits from a support structure that helps the government move reforms forward. That support includes planning help, technical expertise, coordination, and extra execution support through the Temporary Work Organization, known as TWO. The report says this cooperation has helped start and organize reform work, but many of those reforms are still not fully carried out or firmly built into government systems.

In simple terms, what St. Maarten stands to lose is help. If the agreement is not extended, the country could lose access to the organized support system now helping it carry out reforms. That would come at a time when St. Maarten is still trying to handle both its reform agenda and major recovery work linked to the NRPB. The report says that combination is already putting heavy pressure on the country’s limited resources.

Because of this, the Evaluation Committee recommends extending the cooperation with St. Maarten for another two years. It says that extra time should be used to finish ongoing reforms, strengthen the government’s own ability to get things done, improve internal systems, and make sure the work already started does not stall or disappear.

The report also says St. Maarten should use any future reduction in NRPB workload as a chance to build up its own government capacity. At the same time, it recommends keeping the knowledge, support, and experience built up through cooperation with TWO instead of letting that support end too soon.

The larger message of the report is straightforward: St. Maarten is still not in a position to lose this kind of support. If no extension is agreed to in time, the country could reach April 2027 still needing help, while the system now providing that help is set to end.

The full report can be downloaded below.

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