THE HAGUE - It took a while, but on Tuesday the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament will finally debate on the consequences that Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba are experiencing because of the crisis in Venezuela.

Seven speakers have signed up for the debate with the Undersecretary for Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops. These are Antje Diertens (D66) who requested the debate months ago. Machiel de Graaf (PVV), Ronald van Raak (SP), Attje Kuiken (PvdA), Nevin Ozutok (GroenLinks), Chris van Dam (CDA) and Andre Bosman (VVD).

During a closed meeting last week, the members of parliament were briefed by the delegations of the parliaments of Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten about the impact of the crisis in the neighboring country on the economy and daily life on the islands.

The refinery in Curaçao has largely come to a standstill, while in Aruba the restart of the refinery has been halted. The border closure announced by the regime in Caracas has made an impact on the busy trade between Venezuela and the ABC islands. Tourism and buying tourism from the neighboring country has completely disappeared.

At the same time, thousands of Venezuelans have settled illegally on the islands. This puts a great deal of pressure on public facilities such as education and healthcare. Employers exchange local employees for cheap Venezuelan labor. In addition, there are public health concerns due to the influx of unvaccinated children.

The Dutch government has so far taken the position that immigration policy is a matter for the countries themselves, but that it is willing to give sympathetic consideration to requests for assistance from Curaçao and Aruba. For the time being, the Rutte’s Cabinet can count on the support of a (right-wing) majority in parliament.