On May 7, 2026, labor unions sent a letter to Parliament, explaining their position once again and asking Parliament to halt the process of the Kingdom Law HOFA (Rijkswet HOFA).
The advice of the Advisory Council (Raad van Advies)—as the highest consultative body on our island, consisting of local experts with profound knowledge of the law and Aruba’s constitutional structure—in itself offers a solid foundation and local authority for decision-making. Furthermore, it must be emphasized that the primary concern is not exclusively technical-legal in nature; rather, in its essence, it touches upon the fundamental structure of our parliamentary democracy and the degree to which the Parliament of Aruba, as the representative body of the people, can exercise its constitutional function. Consequently, the Parliament of Aruba cannot, and should not, limit itself to waiting for additional external advice, but must focus on providing its own direction to the constitutional path. In this context, the unions wish to know from the Parliament of Aruba whether the content of the Advisory Council’s advice is reason enough to reconsider and cancel the process of the Consensus Kingdom Law HOFA in its current form.
Aruba does NOT want a kingdom law!
Currently in Parliament, 10 out of the 21 MPs are against the Kingdom Law; in addition to this, 13 unions representing thousands of members are also against it, and more than 12,000 people have signed the petition against the Kingdom Law. It is obvious that WE CANNOT SAY THERE IS CONSENSUS! The Government does not want to respect the will of the people and, for a ‘bag of money’ of 7.5 million florins, they are going to destroy our Status Aparte. How does the Government expect us to celebrate 40 years of Status Aparte, if after these four decades they themselves are stripping it away from our people? This is TREASON!
CAFT (Board of Financial Supervision) has just issued its advice on the 2026 budget. In its advice, CAFT indicates that Aruba’s national debt (the debt-to-GDP ratio) is dropping below 50% and will reach 47% by the year 2028. From the very beginning, when the discussion regarding the Kingdom Law started, the condition set by the Dutch Government was that, to achieve sustainable and lasting finances, Aruba’s national debt would need to be under 50%. Well, Aruba has demonstrated that we can do it on our own, and in just two years our debt will drop below this 50% mark. That being the case, we must naturally ask ourselves: what is the urgency and the necessity to surrender our financial autonomy if we have already proven that we can manage on our own?
It is absurd to think that there are Aruban politicians, like Gerlien Croes, Geoffrey Wever, and Mike Eman, who want us to celebrate living in a free country, while in the meantime they want to surrender our freedom and sell our country out for a ‘bag of money.’ It is even more absurd to think that they want to surrender our public finances and our financial autonomy, when in just two years our national debt will drop below 50%!
Aruba already has financial supervision anchored in the National Ordinance on Aruban Financial Supervision (LAft); we are complying with all the standards, we are paying off our debts to the Netherlands, and our debt has already decreased substantially since the pandemic. Looking at this, there is no valid reason or justification to accept the Kingdom Law Hofa.
A country’s freedom is something sacred. We have been a free country since 1986, and thanks to this freedom, our country has been able to prosper and progress. We have the freedom to make our own decisions, the freedom to vote in our own Parliament, and the freedom to manage our funds according to our own wishes. All of this will be taken away from us with the Kingdom Law Hofa.
The main question remains: Why does the Government want to destroy our Status Aparte?