THE HAGUE--The Island Councils of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba have raised serious concerns that a new structural €30 million allocation intended to reduce the cost of living in the Caribbean Netherlands could instead be used to finance subsidies that the Dutch government is already providing.
In a joint letter to the Dutch House of Representatives, the three Island Councils warned that the additional funding should deliver new and measurable reductions in the cost of essential goods and services, rather than replace existing financial support for electricity, drinking water, telecommunications and transportation.
The councils said the coalition agreement is clear that the €30 million is intended to support measures that reduce the cost of living. While welcoming the commitment, they stressed that residents of the Caribbean Netherlands continue to face substantially higher living costs than residents of the European Netherlands.
They described the €30 million as an important opportunity to strengthen livelihood security and achieve additional reductions in essential household expenses.
However, the councils said they are concerned that a substantial portion of the funding is now being considered for subsidies and measures that already exist and have historically been financed through the budgets of individual Dutch ministries.
According to the letter, approximately €19 million of the €30 million has been discussed for 2028 and beyond in connection with existing subsidies, including electricity, drinking water, telecommunications and transportation.
The Island Councils said they fully recognize the importance of maintaining these subsidies, but argued that existing support should not be treated as though it constitutes new structural cost-of-living relief.
They questioned whether the Dutch government would have allowed those subsidies to disappear if the additional €30 million had not been made available.
If the answer is no, the councils argued, then the existing commitments should continue to be structurally financed through the ministries that currently carry responsibility for them.
Using the new €30 million primarily to absorb existing obligations, they warned, could preserve the current high cost of living rather than reduce it. They also cautioned that such an approach could establish a precedent in which existing ministerial responsibilities are gradually shifted to a fund that was specifically intended to provide additional relief.
The councils used electricity prices to illustrate the disparity.
They noted that households on Ameland may pay approximately €0.26 per kilowatt-hour, while residents of the Caribbean Netherlands can face rates of up to approximately US$0.56 per kilowatt-hour.
Existing subsidies are necessary to prevent that gap from becoming even larger, the councils said, but the additional €30 million should be used to help narrow such differences rather than merely finance the measures already preventing them from worsening.
The same principle, they said, applies to drinking water, telecommunications and transportation.
Structural support that is already necessary to maintain affordability and essential connectivity should remain embedded in the budgets of the responsible ministries.
The three Island Councils also expressed concern about how the proposed allocation of the €30 million has been developed.
Despite repeated requests for meaningful involvement, they said Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba had limited opportunity to participate in shaping the measures proposed for 2027, while decisions had already advanced toward incorporation into the Dutch national budget.
The councils said this approach is difficult to reconcile with the principle of partnership within the Kingdom.
They argued that decisions directly affecting the daily lives and economic circumstances of residents should not be substantially determined first and discussed with the islands afterwards.
Their central message to the House of Representatives is that existing subsidies should continue to maintain affordability, while the structural €30 million should be used to improve affordability further.
For 2027, the councils are asking the House to critically examine any proposed allocation from the €30 million that effectively replaces expenditure previously carried by Dutch ministries and to ensure that existing responsibilities remain funded through the appropriate ministry budgets.
For 2028 and beyond, they want the allocation of the full €30 million reconsidered in meaningful consultation with Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba from the beginning of the process, before substantive decisions are taken.
The councils stressed that the circumstances of the three islands are not identical and that effective solutions will therefore not necessarily be the same for each island.
They said meaningful involvement of the islands is essential to ensuring that the funding produces measures suited to local realities.
“The €30 million is an opportunity to make a real and measurable difference in the lives of residents of the Caribbean Netherlands,” the councils said in the letter.
They stressed that the money should generate new structural relief, rather than become a mechanism for financing existing obligations or provide a basis for reducing existing ministerial support.
The councils are calling on the House of Representatives to ensure that the coalition agreement’s commitment is honored through additional, structural measures that genuinely reduce the cost of living for residents of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.
