A Green Paper on the Government’s pursuit of full Caricom membership will be published this month, the home affairs minister has pledged.

Alexa Lightbourne, in a written response to parliamentary questions from the Opposition, said her ministry had fulfilled a commitment she made during the Budget debate last year to prepare a comprehensive consultation paper on the issue.

She added: “A Green Paper on Bermuda’s pursuit of full membership in Caricom has been completed, following Cabinet approval, and will be published this month as part of the ministry’s communication and consultation pledge.”

The news was welcomed by shadow home affairs minister Michael Fahy, who had asked Ms Lightbourne to provide publication dates for a Green Paper, as well as a subsequent more formal policy document known as a White Paper.

However, he accused the Government of being “all over the place” because the Budget Book last month included a performance measures table showing zero expected progress on completing the “Caricom process and Green Paper” this fiscal year or next.

Mr Fahy told The Royal Gazette he hoped the Green Paper would include the draft membership agreement from Caricom in full for the public to review.

He pointed to comments made by Ms Lightbourne last July, when she said her ministry, “upon receipt of the draft membership agreement, will review it — and based on the contents and components included, that will form the basis of a discussion paper and the subsequent consultation”.

Mr Fahy said: “They should go out to the community and hold forums. When they gather all that, then the White Paper should be published.”

The One Bermuda Alliance MP said he would expect the White Paper to follow in about six months.

“There’s a lot of work to do for the Government to convince the public that this is a good idea,” he said, adding that the Green Paper needed to contain clear explanations of the benefits of full membership.

He said that a February 2024 letter of entrustment from the British Government — obtained by The Royal Gazette under public access to information and published in December — was of “major interest” because it showed that the United Kingdom must issue a further entrustment letter before final agreement on full membership can be reached.

Mr Fahy said the letter also required Bermuda, an associate member of Caricom at present, to “abstain on matters that have a direct bearing on external relations, defence or security and also disassociate themselves from any statement made by Caricom on such matters”, if it becomes a full member of the regional bloc.

He said that was a “major point, given the uncertainty of world events” involving the United States — the island's largest trading partner — as was the requirement for Britain to give prior approval to the signing of any agreement by Bermuda in regard to Caricom.

“These facts have not been adequately publicised by the Bermuda Government to date,” Mr Fahy claimed.

He said those conditions had the potential to be used as an “artificial wedge to drive an independence debate”, in the same way the Governor’s refusal to give assent to the Cannabis Licensing Bill 2022 “brought levels of uncertainty on the Government's intent”.

He added: “I always think there is a small segment of the Government that continuously wants to find reasons to push the independence envelope.”

Mr Fahy said: “The world is rife with uncertainty and now is not the time to debate the pros and cons of independence.

“We trust the Government will keep its undertaking to present the pros and cons of full Caricom membership and outline fully how such membership will be beneficial to Bermudians.

“ … Finally, we call on the Government to give a definitive timeline for the publication of a White Paper [and] draft legislation and commit to a referendum on full membership so that the final decision is not left to a chosen few in Parliament.”

Ms Lightbourne joined David Burt, the Premier, and MP Christopher Famous at the 50th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of Caricom in St Kitts & Nevis last week.

The home affairs minister said in response to Mr Fahy’s comments that a suggestion that the Government anticipated no progress on the Caricom process was “factually incorrect”.