Evelyn Wever-Croes

Evelyna Christina "Evelyn" Wever-Croes (born 5 December 1966) is an Aruban politician and who served as the 4th Prime Minister of Aruba from 2017 to 2025. She is the first woman to have held the position. She is a member of the People's Electoral Movement (MEP) and has been the leader of the party since 2011.

Early life Wever-Croes was born on 5 December 1966 in Leiden, Netherlands. She is daughter of . Wever-Croes attended the voorbereidend wetenschappelijk onderwijs at the Colegio Arubano in Oranjestad. Wever-Croes's cabinet was sworn in by Governor Alfonso Boekhoudt on 17 November 2017. She was one of eight members of the Parliament of Aruba to resign their seats to become part of the cabinet as required by law. In November 2018 Aruba and the Netherlands agreed on budgetary rules for the period 2019–2021 and to have the (CAft) be in place for at least a further three years. Under Wever-Croes an accord was reached in 2019 on an Aruban fiscal council to succeed the CAft per 2021.

In October 2019, Raymond Knops, the State Secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations indicated he wanted to give Aruba a formal instruction in the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on advice of the CAft, as Aruba did not obey fully by the agreement made the previous year. The next month Wever-Croes flew to the Netherlands to attend the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and managed that a formal instruction was not given. In April 2020 Wever-Croes stated that she had managed to make a yearly budget saving of 27 million Aruban florin.

COVID-19 pandemic in Aruba In order to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in Aruba, Wever-Croes instated a curfew between 21:00 and 06:00 starting from 21 March 2020. When she took the measure five persons had tested positive on the island. She also introduced a measure that temporarily banned Aruban residents from returning to the country from abroad.

During 2020, the financial position of Aruba was severely affected due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Aruba, with government revenue falling by 80%. In response the Wever-Croes cut salaries of higher government officials and civil servants by 20% for the period May until December, while also lowering the salaries of regular civil servants with 12.6%. In April 2020 she introduced the Wever-Croes standard, which permanently limited the salary of directors of state run enterprises up till 130% of the salary of the Prime Minister. On 16 May, Wever-Croes agreed to a first financial aid package subject to certain conditions. By July 2020 Wever-Croes was in negotiations with the Netherlands for a third financial aid package and received a list of 18 new conditions for reforms set by the Netherlands. She wrote a complaint letter to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on the severity of the terms, stating: "It's almost as if Aruba has become the country-version of the American George Floyd and our own Mitch Henriquez. Mark, we can't breathe like this". Over July and August Aruba did not receive financing from the Netherlands. In September 2020 the Wever-Croes government obtained 171 million Aruban florin on the local market. The financial negotiations with the Netherlands were still ongoing during October 2020.

In early October 2020, Wever-Croes stated that financial support measures for businesses would be continued for a further three months.

Other policies Wever-Croes has stated that she sees it as priority to have more women run for political office. Wever-Croes stated that the Netherlands was "indifferent" about the influx. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte stated that Aruba is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands and that Aruba should request aid if it needs it.

Second Wever-Croes cabinet

Wever-Croes's cabinet was sworn in for her second term by Governor Alfonso Boekhoudt on 21 September 2021.

Personal life Wever-Croes is married to Kenneth Wever. She has a son and she is a grandmother.