The Kingdom Council of Ministers’ decision not to give Aruba an instruction (see related story) seemed like the right thing to do. Miguel Mansur of one-seat local opposition party Accion21 had argued that due to this a financial surplus will only be reached after the present MEP/Raiz ruling coalition’s term in office ends, thus insufficiently protecting the people’s wellbeing.
He also suggested that the position of the Aruban Financial Supervision Committee CAFT, which proposed the control measure, was weakened in this manner. However, according to Dutch State Secretary for Kingdom Relations Alexandra van Huffelen, via improvements made following CAFT’s advice, Aruba yet complied with budgetary norms set for 2022.
In addition, the Wever-Croes II Cabinet has been an example for the other two Dutch Caribbean countries regarding fiscally responsible behaviour and decisive related action during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic with its devastating impact on their respective tourism economies. They introduced an employee benefits reduction of 12.6% in the public sector to stay afloat cashflow-wise despite sharply declined revenues even before the Netherlands demanded this as condition for badly-needed liquidity support, prompting Curaçao and St. Maarten to follow suit with 12.5% cuts of their own.
No similar new loans are planned, so all three governments on the islands must ensure balanced budgets moving forward. That will not prove an easy task with their dominant hospitality industries still recovering plus the current global inflation crisis caused primarily by war in Eastern Europe, but the intention is there.
Contrary to her predecessor Raymond Knops, Van Huffelen appears to realise that too much and – sometimes uncalled for – constant pressure on Oranjestad, Willemstad and Philipsburg can create undesirable tension in kingdom ties and may ultimately not be conducive to achieving results that serve the best interest of the populations.
Based on recent experience, the three Dutch Caribbean countries should have earned The Hague’s confidence by now at least a bit more. As such, they would certainly seem to deserve the benefit of the doubt.
