Minister Wever Called a Meeting in Parliament That, in My View, Has No Validity,” Says MP Edgard Vrolijk

Parliamentarian Edgard Vrolijk, representing the Movimiento Electoral di Pueblo (MEP), said in an interview with Matutino Diario that the Wever meeting in Parliament requested by Minister Geoffrey Wever has “no validity,” according to his interpretation.

Vrolijk said that the Wever meeting in Parliament took place last Thursday, but “in my view it lacked any valid basis,” especially given that it focused on financial projections running from 2022 to 2025 and also projections looking ahead to 2027. He referred specifically to reports like the Landspakketnan that have since expired. These are essentially projects nearing completion that were started under former Minister Xiomara [Maduro], and Vrolijk believes Wever still has responsibility for the approximately 5 % of work left unfinished from that period.

Vrolijk added that the MEP faction is carrying out its duties as parliamentarians — including requesting meetings that have not been granted. For example, they have asked for a meeting about Fuel Marketing & Supply Aruba (FMSA), given issues around a company that should have won a bidding process but didn’t. The faction also raised motions they passed asking for solutions around the refinery situation, and they had requested a meeting months ago regarding geopolitical concerns — all of which they consider urgent.

He noted that Aruba’s government has now been in office for one year and that some critics say the MEP is merely critical. “But we are not criticizing for the sake of it; we are pointing to what was put in the governance agreement — for example on page 19 of the AVP‑Futuro government program — which promised lower cost of living and a modern system that would put more money in people’s pockets, and we have not seen that in a year,” Vrolijk said.

He pointed out that while civil servants have received an 11.7 % increase, “ordinary people overall are not feeling a difference from this government.” Instead, prices for gas and food have continued to rise. He stressed that the current government had promised a contingency plan to address geopolitical issues but no concrete measures have been seen — and, to his surprise, reports surfaced that the minister had left the country.