Aruba Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes with Aruba Minister Plenipotentiary Guillfred Besaril (left) and St. Maarten Deputy Minister Plenipotentiary Hasani Ellis at the lecture of the Netherlands Aruba Society GNA in The Hague on Thursday. (Suzanne Koelega photo)
THE HAGUE--Aruba Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes did not have a lot of good news to share about her country during her visit to the Netherlands this week, but she did relay a message of determination: her government has started the herculean task of getting Aruba out of its financial predicament, while at the same time repairing the cracks in the social fabric, with the aim to restore trust.
Wever-Croes is currently on her first working visit to the Netherlands since her appointment in November 2017. She has met with several members of the Dutch government, including Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Minister of Foreign Affairs Stef Blok and State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops.
It was the turn of the Aruba community in the Netherlands and those with close ties to the island to hear what the new prime minister had to say during a lecture that she held in The Hague on Thursday afternoon on the invitation of the Netherlands Aruba Society GNA.
Wever-Croes, an attorney-at-law and tax consultant by profession, found herself facing the enormous challenge to get Aruba back on track, leading her country as a prime minister after eight years of fierce opposition.
“I got the opportunity to do it myself now, to make things better, and now here I am,” she said in the introductory part of her address in which she gave a summary of the developments in Aruba and the manner in which her government planned to tackle the issues.
Aruba’s national debt doubled between 2009 and 2015 and stands at almost 90 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018, which is far too much for a small country to carry. When the new MEP/POR/RED government took over in November 2017 it was decided right away to commence the process of cutting cost and increasing revenue to mitigate the large projected 2018 budget deficit of 275 million Aruba florins (Afl).
A week after the new government was installed, it was confronted with the death of two young boys – a case of severe abuse that shocked society, said Wever-Croes. “We are One Happy Island, we have a booming tourism industry, but we suddenly realised that this was also a reality. It was a turning point: we knew that something had to be done to deal with the social problems.”
A social crisis plan was drafted. “For too long no investments had been made in the social system.” In the meantime, the exercise to cut the 2018 budget deficit to Afl. 150 million started. The new government reduced the cost of personnel, eliminated political appointments and asked the government departments to display sobriety and solidarity.
Aruba’s outdated tax structure has loopholes that need to be closed and is in urgent need of a more efficient and fair system for levying and collecting taxes. An additional problem presents itself when in 2019 the government has to pay Afl. 80 million for public/private partnership (PPP) projects initiated by the previous AVP government.
A crisis levy of 2.5 per cent will go into effect on July 1 to generate much-needed additional revenue, an estimated Afl. 125 million. Aruba will go from implementing direct taxes to more indirect taxes. The budget deficit should be reduced to Afl. 30 million by 2019, and there should be a surplus by 2020. The plan is to decrease the national debt to 50 per cent in a few years.
“We need to move from distrust to trust. This is important for our people, but also in our relations with The Hague. If there was one word that I heard here in The Hague this week it is trust. But we did not come to the Netherlands to ask for money. We want to do this on our own. We are only asking for time and space to get our finances in order. I believe in the Kingdom; I believe in working together in the Kingdom, based on mutual understanding and respect,” said Wever-Croes.
She announced the intention to introduce an Integrity Bureau and an Integrity Chamber. The Bureau would serve to create more awareness for the importance of integrity, while the Chamber would monitor certain procedures and decisions of government, such as tendering for projects. “People should be able to count on things going according to the rules and regulations. Integrity violations have hurt our image and people don’t want that anymore,” she said.
Besides the financial and social issues, there is another challenge for the Aruba government: the crisis in Venezuela. “What happens there affects us all. It is hard to accept what is happening there, but we have to put Aruba first.” The island has prepared a plan with the help of the United Nations Refugee Agency UNHCR to prepare in case of an influx of refugees from Venezuela.
Responding to a question from the audience about the reopening of the refinery, Wever-Croes said her government would wait to see whether the oil company Citgo would indeed invest in the facility as promised. “In 2020, the contract will lapse. In the meantime. we are facing a dilemma: what if not, what are the alternatives. We would have to discuss this in a national setting.”
The prime minister’s lecture, held at the Nieuwspoort, drew a large crowd. The audience, which included St. Maarten Deputy Minister Plenipotentiary Hasani Ellis, responded positively and lauded the GNA initiative to invite Wever-Croes.
