The leader of the PPA faction, Eduard Pieters, declared that the recent recommendations from the Advisory Council (Raad van Advies) and the Council of State (Raad van State) have confirmed what the PPA has been warning about from the very beginning: Article 38 of the Kingdom Act HOFA (Rijkswet HOFA) is flawed in its current form.
“Once again, PPA is proven right,” Pieters expressed following the meetings in the Netherlands. “Both the Advisory Council and the Council of State have arrived at the same conclusion: Article 38, as it is currently formulated, is not good and must be changed.”
Two Constitutional Institutions, the Same Signal
According to Pieters, the Advisory Council was clear that the current formulation requires profound modification. Now, the Council of State has also reached the conclusion that the article needs to be rewritten and limited. Specifically, the Council of State recommended concentrating Article 38 exclusively on the quantification of the financial norms stipulated in the National Ordinance on Safeguarding Sustainable Public Finances (LWHO). “That is a fundamental change,” Pieters emphasized. “When two High Councils of State state that the article must be changed, it simply means that the current text does not work.”
AVP Also Recognizes the Problem
What is politically most significant, according to Pieters, is that following the meeting with the Council of State, the leader of the AVP faction publicly declared that the government must renegotiate with the Netherlands and must renegotiate the content of the Kingdom Act HOFA in accordance with the Council of State’s advice. Furthermore, the AVP faction leader expressed that the Parliament of Aruba must also analyze these points for the benefit of Aruba.
“That is important,” Pieters stated. “Because now it is not only PPA saying that these laws are not good in their current form, but there is now recognition from the other side as well.”
PPA Continues to Bring Solutions
Pieters emphasized that the PPA does not limit itself merely to criticism. “We do not just point out problems. We bring alternatives and solutions. If the goal is to guarantee sound finances, we can achieve that same goal without violating our Constitution or creating conflict with our autonomy.”
According to PPA, the two recommendations currently on the table show that the current path cannot be continued as it is. “The question now is not whether Article 38 has flaws. The question is how we will correct this problem while respecting our Rule of Law, our autonomy, and our Constitution.”