No, no it's not fake news! After deliberation of the last meeting of the Council of Ministers held on Friday evening, the government of Sint Maarten made the firm decision to lift its border controls from this Sunday, May 17 in the morning and thus allow residents of the French side to circulate freely in part Dutch. Did you say surprising?

"With the authorities on the French side, we worked hand in hand with one and the same objective of protecting the population against the spread of the virus", underlines Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs.

"I am also aware that these decisions to control the borders have caused some stress to our citizens with family and economic ties on both sides of the island. Today, the health situation is “under control” ”.

"Just like before the state of emergency, the Dutch part of the island will no more ask any exemption to enter. As a small island of 93 km2, we have done everything possible to synchronize measures with our northern counterparts to protect the public from the spread of this virus. INow is the time to standardize even more. As our businesses reopen, more and more people will need to access their workplaces, which will make this extra task unreasonable, ”said Jacobs.

The screening campaign partly Dutch will continue this weekend and next weekend. However, during the week, normal circulation will be authorized to allow persons to work for make a living and revive theeconomy while respecting the guidelines for employee and customer safety.

“Our population is much more aware of the dangers of the virus and will continue to apply the barrier gestures in public: wear a mask at all times, maintain a social distance of two meters, and practice good hand hygiene frequently to avoid a second wave. Our behavior will determine the success of the de-escalation of our measures. In fact, we have found that it was no longer necessary to maintain border controls and movement restrictions ”.

SSaturday morning, par courtesy, the Dutch authorities have informed their counterparts from the French side of this sudden decision.

"Madam Prefect told me that the French soldiers, for their part, will continue their border control mission and that a derogation will always be necessary to reach the French side ”, specifies Silveria Jacobs, before adding,“There are times, unfortunately, when our different systems cannot synchronize, as such, but We will continue to meet and discuss best practices in the future and do our best to foster cooperation as we defuse measures and continue to fight the spread ofu COVID-19 ”.

Daniel Gibbs for his part suggested to Overseas Minister Annick Girardin to also lift border controls in an effort to synchronize measures on both sides of the island, border control being a state competence. To be continued …

Note that the curfew rest in effect on the Dutch side from 21 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday.

Le-container à the Oyster Pond border will be removed from this Sunday matin.

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