Parliamentarians were surprised Sunday night by the meeting called with Central Committee to discuss the negotiations with The Netherlands.
The political party AVP regrets that the information received did not happen in a public meeting.
Parliamentarian Richards Arends expressed multiple times that he disagrees with how the decision has been made and that there are other ways to go about it. Although they do understand the urgency, the Government has.
Independent Parliamentarian Daphne Lejuez expressed that she asked for specific documents but was told to read the documents they received in June, August, September, and November.
Lejuez agreed in hopes of receiving the signed documents. The community wants the security of knowing that the funds are there and available to restart the economy.
Ricardo Croes, Leader of RED, said that one of the biggest changes is that the entity that was supposed to consist of 3 Dutchmen will now consist of 2 Aruban citizens. And Parliament and the Government won’t lose their authority. If we continue to say no, like opposition, the Government will pay only 30% of salary-aid, 30% of welfare, and 30% of salaries. The ‘rijkswet’ is only for a limited time, according to the parliamentarian.
Alan Howell from POR said that the Prime Minister has always been informing them about Aruba’s financial situation and believes that she does this in all honesty. According to Howell, they should have signed a long time ago because Aruba needs 209 million by the end of the year. The Netherlands promised not to take over but to help Aruba. And for that, he is grateful to The Netherlands.
According to Rocco Tjon, from MEP, Before COVID-19, the Government has been managing Aruba’s finance responsibly. The financial aspects have been finalized so we can assure the payment of salaries. Until December, there will be enough resources to fund the aid programs, and we can guarantee that there will be no more salary cuts for the public sector employees.
