Video 1 Ministers Weekly Press Briefing May 21 2025 Mercelina and Brug
Video 1 Prime Minister Dr Luc Mercelina Dutch Vacation allowance Amendments St Maarten Government Weekly Minister Press Briefing Wednesday May 21 2025 Full Question and Answer session:PRIME MINISTER DR LUC MERCELINA:People of St. Martin, representative of the media and also the members of the DECOM, good morning. First of all, I would like to just participate about my experience in the Zero Waste in the Caribbean, a seminar that took place in Zimbabwe in the past weekend, actually starting last week, Thursday, until Sunday. Over the past weekend, I had the honor of representing St. Martin alongside the Minister of Vromi, Mr. Patrice Gumbs, at the Zero Waste in the Caribbean seminar held in our sister island, St BarthsThat was from the 15th, actually, to the 19th.
This is an important regional event… The event brought together government leaders, environmental experts and key stakeholders to strengthen cooperation in waste management and environmental protection to two crucial pillars in our sustainable development goals. The highlight of the seminar came on Saturday, May the 17th, when I joined several of my regional counterparts in signing a joint declaration reaffirming our shared commitment to structure a sustainable and also an organized waste management for the islands in the Caribbean. Those that co-signed this intent were the President Xavier Lede from St. Barts, President Louis Mussington from the French side, Minister Kyle Hodge of Anguilla, the first Vice President Jean-Philippe Courtois of Guadeloupe, also Commissioner Bruce Agers of Saba and the Minister of Romy of St. Martin together with me, we were those that signed this agreement. Together we pledge to deepen cross-border collaboration and reconvene soon to address even broader challenges including tourism, ecological transition and building, of course, a regional sustainable economy. Secondly, on the topic of vacation allowance, reform for civil servants expressed in a national ordinance on vacation and leave, I would also like to update the public on a major development This week, Parliament unanimously approved the draft national ordinance that introduces several key changes to the vacation and exemption from service regulations for civil servants. This amendment is the result of extensive consultation between Government of Sint Maarten and the unions through the Committee for Civil Servants Union, the CCSU, and follows the agreement. decree streamlining the process thirdly a new provision grants one additional day of leave to civil servants who have served for 45 consecutive years i want to clarify one point that was raised during the debate in parliament the jubilee payments granted as a service milestone remain under the BRAA the remuneration regulations for civil servants and this includes a half month extra salary for at 15 and 20 years of service one month’s extra salary and one dayof leave at 30 years of service and two extra salaries and one day of leave at 45 years for clarity sake the BRAA has been signed and approved already on May the 29th. Let me take this opportunity to commend all service servants,particularly those who continue to serve with distinction during the difficult COVID-19 yearswhen many benefits were temporarily reduced.
Thirdly, I recall that I already gave an update of my travel in March to the Netherlands concerning the recruitment mission that we had, seeing the amount of vacancies that we have in our government apparatus. I, as I said, attended at the end of March of this year And I can update you on the following. Last week, based on the overview of the candidates provided by the Department of Personnel and Organization, all ministers received an overview of the available candidates for their ministries with a request to start the recruitment process as soon as possible.
In regard to vacancies within the Department of P&O, we all understand that the Department I gave them approval to be to being with their recruitment process and by the end of May I expect at least two personnel advisors and one personal officer to be hired for the Department of P&O. It’s going to be an additional three person to enforce the team of P&O of this organization. I mentioned previously that 91 individuals visited the booths and showed interest in working in St. Martin. It’s quite an amount of people showed interest. In theend a total of 67 applicants were received over the various ministries. These applicants were included