Bijleveld clears up voting right

October 28, 2008 7:37 AM

The members of the CDA fraction in the Upper House still had some questions regarding the granting of voting rights for Antilleans and Arubans for the Euro parliament.

In answer to this secretary of state Ank Bijleveld-Schouten (Kingdom relations CDA) has written a letter in which she explains that the assumption of the CDA fraction that Holland, with the extention of the voting right, takes away autonomous country rights from other lands and exercises these without permission, is incorrect.

The fraction wondered who is allowed to extend his voting right for the European Parliament to Dutch who are citizens of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba: the Dutch legislator, the Kingdom legislator or the Antillean and Aruban legislators. Bijleveld explains that in each member country the national legislator needs to arrange who has the active and passive voting right for the European Parliament, in this context the Dutch legislator.

Antilleans and Arubans get the voting rights for the European parliament because the Aruban politicians Mike Eman and Benny Sevinger have taken legal proceedings. The Court of Justice European Communities found that in view of equal treatment, Holland can not extend the voting right for the European parliament to Dutch living abroad and not to Antilleans and Arubans. Holland could also have chosen to limit the voting rights for the EU to the citizens of Holland.

(Source: National newspaper Amigoe)

27 October, 2008