On Thursday morning, in Parliament, a public meeting was held in which the Government of Aruba gave an update on the ongoing negotiations with the Netherlands. Since the meeting on 22 August, the Parliament has indicated in what framework it wants the Government to continue negotiations with the Netherlands.
Already the next day, August 23, the Government began deliberations with the teams of the professionals and then also began deliberations at the level of government by government. The government of Aruba has made a proposal to reach an agreement on the outlines. In this agreement, the Government proposed to work with a hybrid solution, a Kingdom Law, which regulates some aspects and a local law, which regulates some aspects. In this, the Parliament was left with all its authority and autonomy. This is what Parliament has also indicated and this is what we have offered in the Netherlands, the Prime Minister remarked.
The Prime Minister noted that in this agreement, the Government has set the conditions that the Parliament has indicated that it wants in such a negotiation. The government received a response from the Netherlands on 6 September to this proposal, in which the Netherlands indicated its willingness to continue discussions on the topic of hybrid solutions. Discussions on this will continue in the times ahead to propose what is provided in a Kingdom Law and what is provided in a Local Law.
Given that on October 10th the debts will mature, the documents are being prepared for bail on high market interest to be repaid in 20 years but with a clause that could take into consideration that if the Government of Aruba reaches a government-to-government understanding before the end of the year, it would be willing to lower the interest even further.
The first step is that the Netherlands has agreed to open talks on the hybrid solution proposed by the Government of Aruba. This is a positive development. For this, the Government of Aruba has until the end of 2023 to reach an agreement. The Wever-Croes cabinet continues to sit at the table with the Netherlands with the same determination and with a lot of positivity to reach a solution for the benefit of the country, the Prime Minister emphasized.
At the meeting in Parliament, the Prime Minister gave this summary and presented all the documentation to put them into practice. Such parliamentarians can see and read all these letters. “We have transparency, we have nothing to hide and we will not hide anything either because together we must reach the best solution for our people, hoping that the Parliament will give the Government the support to continue negotiating with the Netherlands to reach the best arrangement for the benefit of all the people of Aruba”, Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes said.