The news that Minister Gerlien Croes is traveling to the Netherlands this week for only two days has become the main topic of conversation everywhere!
According to a statement from her office, she is traveling to attend the Kingdom Council of Ministers meeting on Friday, October 31.
However, this trip is completely unnecessary — since elections in the Netherlands are being held on October 29, it means that two days later, there will be no one available to meet with the Aruban minister again!
Her first official trip to the Netherlands in June, which lasted two weeks, was already considered a “sweet trip.” Up to this day, she has not provided Parliament with any details about that trip — neither the total expenses nor any agreements she might have made. This, despite the fact that Parliament has repeatedly asked for this information. During that trip, she was not received by any ministers in The Hague, since the Dutch government had already fallen at the time.
Now, she is traveling again — this time for a meeting she is not even formally authorized to attend. According to the Kingdom Charter (Statuut), it is the Minister Plenipotentiary who is authorized to attend meetings of the Kingdom Council of Ministers. Prime ministers may also attend, but in this case, yet another minister is traveling without any urgent reason.
What has caused even more outrage are the costs associated with this trip, which are reportedly over 25,000 florins — for the minister alone.
People have reacted with strong indignation at how this government continues to waste money on such “sweet trips,” while refusing to provide any transparency about how much these trips are actually costing taxpayers.
Press release: MEP