Aruba Minister Plenipotentiary Guillfred Besaril was all smiles after Friday’s meeting of the Kingdom Council of Ministers. (Aruba House photo)
THE HAGUE--The Kingdom Council of Ministers agreed during its meeting on Friday, September 20, to give the Aruba government more time to draft a new proposal to arrange financial supervision.
The law proposal that the Aruba Parliament recently approved to amend the National Ordinance Aruba Financial Supervision will not go through. This amendment would basically have curbed the role of the Aruba Committee for Financial Supervision CAFT, meaning that the Kingdom Council of Ministers would no longer be able to exercise supervision over Aruba’s finances.
The Kingdom government did not approve of this move by the Aruba Parliament. It has now been decided to grant the Aruba government the opportunity to come with a new law proposal, one that would carry the support of the Kingdom government. This new proposal will be handled in the next meeting of the Kingdom Council of Ministers on October 18.
Dutch State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops called the agreement a “step in the right direction.” He said on Friday, that he received a letter from Aruba Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes in which she confirmed that the amended national ordinance would no longer go to Aruba Governor Alfonso Boekhoudt and that as such the law would not go into effect.
Knops said that there were different ways in which Aruba could secure financial supervision. “That is up to Aruba, but the legal norms have to be guaranteed by law,” he said after Friday’s meeting. The postponing of the decision of the Kingdom Council of Ministers also serves to get the amendment as approved by the Aruba Parliament definitely off the table.
“I don’t want to get into a situation where the Aruba government can decide at a later moment to still send the amendment to the Governor for approval. It is the task of the Aruba government to discuss this with its Parliament. That is not my task,” said Knops.
The State Secretary said that, if necessary, there was room for additional time. “The other option is an instruction, but I have always invested in a good relationship; and in a good relationship, both partners have to deliver and stick to the agreement. So far, Aruba has not violated agreements,” he said.
The Aruba government responded positively to the decision of the Kingdom Council of Ministers. The postponement is considered as a sign that Aruba is moving in the right direction. “Aruba did not get a Royal Decree [an instruction – Ed.]. To the contrary: we got the extra space and time that we asked for. The Kingdom government sees that Aruba is taking important financial measures and that we are on the right track,” the Aruba government stated in a press release on Friday.
Aruba Minister Plenipotentiary Guillfred Besaril displayed his content after Friday’s meeting. “The opposition in Aruba had the champagne ready. They can keep the bottle closed.” He said that he hoped the governments of Aruba and the Netherlands would be able to find a compromise for the issue of financial supervision.
“We have created the necessary room for us to continue negotiating so we can arrive at a good product that satisfies everyone,” said Besaril, who expressed confidence that a solution would be found, also because Aruba has demonstrated that it is a trustworthy partner who sticks to the agreement about the budget deficit and the national debt.
Besaril said that his government understands the point of view of the Kingdom Council of Ministers that there has to be independent financial supervision, also in light of the international ratings of Aruba’s financial stability. He said that on the other hand, his government also understands the position of the Aruba Parliament that the financial supervision has to be in line with the local regulations and laws.
