New governance in Dutch antilles

Abstract

As a result of the constitutional reform carried out in the Kingdom of the Netherlands in October 2010, existing Netherlands Antilles have been resolved. Currently, the Kingdom of the Netherlands consists of four autonomous states: the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, along with three special municipalities: Bonair, Sint Eustatius and Saba (BES). The special municipalities now bear the name of the Caribbean Netherlands (Caribisch Nederland). The new autonomous countries have their own governments and parliaments. Special municipalities have two levels of authorities. The first one representing the central authorities of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the second, local authority exercised by the representatives of the Islands Council (Eilandsraad). The head of the state is King Willem-Alexander. The foreign policy and defense of the Caribbean Netherlands remain the responsibility of the Kingdom of the Netherlands with one Minister of Foreign Affairs and one single foreign service. The countries Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten have their Foreign Affairs Departments. On Sint Maarten, this name is a bit different and sounds more like “Department” of Foreign Affairs. Effective 1 January 2011 for Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, the official tender became the U.S. dollar. In the countries of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, the Antillian Guilder (Antilliaanse Gulden) remains in circulation until the Caribbean Guilder will be introduced. The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a member of the European Union. Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten have the status of overseas countries and territories of the EU and, thus, are not part of the EU. The name Caribbean Netherlands does not include autonomous countries and it refers only to those Caribbean islands that are administrative divisions of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The name Dutch Caribbean refers to all the Caribbean islands within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.