In any case, the world is on its head here in Aruba, as former minister Otmar Oduber put it yesterday in a statement issued on the latest developments regarding the acceptance or rejection of the RAFT. As brought forward last week, the reality is that RAFT is a “Fait Accompli”, there is no other way, it is a fact.
We tried to give this all kind of names, but unfortunately it was Aruba itself that decided to give the Netherlands the space to impose this Rijkswet on us. The Prime Minister agreed with The Hague to walk this path with the thought of being able to close the best possible deal for the refinancing of the debt of 916 million that Aruba had lend during the pandemic. This is also the reason why several social partners voiced their strong opinion in favor of RAFT, or the agreement in principle that the Prime Minister signed with the Dutch government.
BLOW TO OUR AUTONOMY
The obvious pain remains the fact that Aruba is losing a large part of its autonomy and this means that the Parliament is losing the essence of its “Budget Right”, which is a fundamental part of our Status Aparte. The Dutch government rightly says that if they want the Netherlands to guarantee the refinancing at a preferential interest rate that the Netherlands gets, then they need to be sure that Aruba does not let them be embarrassed by those who would lend this money at an advantage interest rate. This represents a reduction of approximately 30 million per year, over 20 years, which is a total of at least 600 million less interest than would otherwise be paid. This in itself is a valid reason for Prime Minister Wever Croes to sign this agreement with the Netherlands.
Now there is nothing left but to negotiate how Aruba can implement its own control bodies and laws to avoid this escalation of debts in the future. Here we have to think about laws that make it impossible for a government to borrow the country for millions of dollars for more than 5 years. If this requires a longer term, then at least a two-thirds majority of our Parliament. Avoiding that the debt may continue to increase in the future and making the parliamentary democracy more wine.
The investment plan was a long time ago.
On the other hand, it is necessary to be central in the negotiations with the Netherlands, so that Aruba can use this interest, which is reduced by the preferential interest, in investments that are in the interest of the country. As much as possible, surpluses can be generated in the general budget. Avoid leaving them alone to pay accumulated debts. This policy of creating space for investment should be anchored in laws that bind any incoming government to a long-term investment plan of 10 or more years. This is the way in which trade unions and politics in general must have the maturity and willingness to create a united front to convince the Netherlands to move in this direction.
Maturity must now be accepted by all who are part of this business, for the discussion is already over, and now we must close our eyes and support a single common goal for the benefit of the whole country. The maturity of some of the policies that we have to understand that we have reached this point because of the same lack of accountability of the same parliaments for years. Maturity on the part of the unions that must also have the sense of understanding that a decades-long struggle to have our own destiny in our hands and here have a role to help guide it and correct what went wrong and support the government in turn through objective and constructive dialogue. It is interesting to see the position taken by the two largest factions in the Parliament and to see if they also realize that there is no longer space or time to be impartial in the decision they have to make whether to support the government and its Prime Minister who have agreed with the Netherlands a route and to give it the best possible content under the current circumstances. Once this position has been established, the immediate process for a national dialogue on reducing government spending should begin, both in the long term and in the short term.
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