Kingdom of the Netherlands

The Kingdom of the Netherlands, Dutch Koninkrijk der Nederlanden, English Kingdom of the Netherlands, Frisian Keninkryk fan de Nederlannen, in Papiamento Reino Hulandes, is a state in Europe and the Caribbean. The state is divided into four parts called "Länder" (Dutch: landen). Each of the four countries belonging to the Kingdom is autonomous and has its own government and currency. Common tasks of the Kingdom consist mainly in foreign and security policy and in matters of nationality.

The four countries are:

• The Netherlands, with most of the state territory in Europe, but since 2010 also including three Caribbean islands, the "special municipalities" called the Caribbean Netherlands or BES-eilanden (BES islands): Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba;
• Aruba, land in the Caribbean;
• Curaçao, country in the Caribbean;
• Sint Maarten, country in the Caribbean.

The kingdom emerged in this form from the colonial empire of the Netherlands. After Indonesia's independence in 1949, this still included Suriname in South America as well as the Caribbean islands, which were then grouped together as the Netherlands Antilles. Suriname became independent in 1975, while the Netherlands Antilles were dissolved in 2010 (Aruba became an independent country in 1986).

The legal basis for the Kingdom is the Constitution of the Netherlands and, since 1954, the Statuut voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden. The latter regulates relations between the four countries and joint decision-making. The three countries in the Caribbean also have their own constitutions, which in all three countries are called Staatsregeling.

The Kingdom has as a common body the Rijksministerraad. This is the Dutch cabinet, augmented by representatives from the other three countries. Joint laws are passed by the Dutch Parliament after hearing Caribbean representatives. The head of state of the Kingdom and of each country is the King of the Netherlands.

The European country of the Netherlands sees itself as a decentralized unitary state because governmental functions have been devolved to lower levels (such as the provinces). There is no generally accepted classification for the Kingdom as a construction of four countries. Constitutional historian Tijn Kortmann called the Kingdom a federation, but of a very unique kind.

History

Prehistory and statute 1954

Since the 17th century, the Netherlands had colonies in other parts of the world. After the Second World War, a rapid decolonization of most of these territories took place. Under political pressure from the United Nations and the United States, the Netherlands released the country of Indonesia into sovereignty as a separate state. A loose Dutch Indonesian Union still existed until 1954, but it broke up over the dispute over New Guinea. New Guinea remained under Dutch administration for a few more years. Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles also remained Dutch.

With the Netherlands Antilles and Suriname it was possible to reach an agreement on a new construction of the kingdom. Autonomy and equal rights for the overseas territories were guaranteed. In 1954, relations between the Netherlands, Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles and New Guinea were regulated by the entry into force of the Statute of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles became countries of the Kingdom and were granted internal autonomy.

In 1962, New Guinea came under United Nations administration and was handed over to Indonesia in 1963. Suriname seceded from the Kingdom on 25 November 1975 and became an independent republic. From that date, the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisted of only two countries.

In 1986 Aruba, until then a part of the Netherlands Antilles, got the status of a separate country within the Kingdom. Since then, the Kingdom consisted of three countries until 2010. When Aruba received its "status aparte", the statute of the kingdom provided that it should leave the kingdom in 1992 and thus become independent. However, this plan was dropped.

On 10 October 2010, the rest of the Netherlands Antilles was finally dissolved, making Curaçao and Sint Maarten autonomous countries within the Kingdom, and the islands of Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius joined the Netherlands as special municipalities.

Reform from 2010

In earlier years, the Kingdom Statute was increasingly felt to be out of date. It was therefore to be redesigned. Referendums had been held on all the islands of the Netherlands Antilles. The island territories of Sint Maarten and Curaçao wanted to obtain a status aparte (a special status) like Aruba and thus become independent countries within the Kingdom. The populations of Bonaire and Saba were in favour of annexation to the European Netherlands (and would thus become EU citizens), whereas only the population of the island of St. Eustatius wanted to remain part of the Netherlands Antilles.

On 15 December 2008, Kingdom Day, an agreement on the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles was signed during a round table conference in Curaçao. The final restructuring was finally implemented on 10 October 2010 and the State Union of the Netherlands Antilles was abolished. Curaçao and Sint Maarten have since belonged to the Kingdom as new autonomous countries, comparable to the status of Aruba.

The islands of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba received a new status as "special municipalities" (bijzondere gemeenten) within the Netherlands, without belonging to a Dutch province. Each of these three islands has a gezaghebber (comparable to a mayor), a bestuurscollege and an eilandsraad. These three islands are often collectively called BES-eilanden, after the initial letters. Officially, however, the term Caribbean Netherlands (Caribisch Nederland) is used; this is not to be confused with the Dutch Caribbean, by which all islands are meant (the three countries as well as the BES-eilanden).

The BES-eilanden initially retained Antillian laws, but must gradually adopt Dutch laws. This is a contentious issue, especially on issues such as gay marriage or euthanasia. In 2011, Dutch education laws were adopted, although the foreign language German, for example, was replaced by Spanish. Already since 2008 there is the Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland, which represents the Dutch state on these islands. It reports to the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations.

Area	Part of the Kingdom before 10 October 2010	Part of the Kingdom since 10 October 2010
Netherlands (European territory)	Netherlands Netherlands	Netherlands Netherlands
BES Islands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba)	Netherlands Antilles Netherlands Antilles
Curaçao		Curaçao Curaçao
SintMaarten		Sint Maarten Sint Maarten
Aruba	Aruba Aruba	Aruba Aruba

From left to right: Emily de Jongh-Elhage (Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles), Atzo Nicolai (Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands), Sarah Wescot-Williams (Prime Minister of Sint Maarten) and Zita Jesus-Leito (Member of the States of the Antilles), in November 2006 in The Hague at the conclusion of the negotiations.

Countries of the Kingdom

The kingdom has a total population of around 16.87 million people and a population density of 397 inhabitants/km². In the European part, the population density is only slightly higher with 399 inhabitants/km².

The European Netherlands borders Germany and Belgium. Of the Caribbean islands, only Sint Maarten has a border with another state: more precisely, this country is located on the island of St. Martin, which is also home to a French overseas territory, Saint-Martin

Geographically, the islands in the Caribbean are divided into two groups:

• The so-called ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao) are located off the South American coast, opposite Venezuela. They belong to the Leeward Islands, which in turn are part of the Lesser Antilles.
• The so-called SSS islands (Sint Eustatius, Saba, Sint Maarten) lie further north and also belong to the Lesser Antilles, but to the Windward Islands.

The highest elevation in the Kingdom is the volcano Mount Scenery on Saba, one of the BES islands, at 887 metres. In the European Netherlands, the Vaalserberg (323 metres) is the highest.

Throughout the Kingdom, Dutch is the official language. In the Caribbean, Papiamento (also: Papiamentu) is often spoken. This is a creole language that originated from Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and other influences.

Kingdom part		Location	Population	Area	Population density	Currency	Official languages; other
Netherlands Netherlands	Europees Nederland		16.570.613 (2007)	41,526 km²	399 Ew/km²	Euro (EUR)	Dutch; Frisian
	Caribbean Netherlands (BES Islands)		18.401 (2007)	322 km²	57 Ew/km²	US dollar (USD)	Dutch; English, Spanish
Aruba Aruba			106.050 (2008)	180 km²	589 Ew/km²	Aruba-Florin (AWG)	Dutch, Papiamento; Spanish, English
Curaçao Curaçao			142.180 (2010)	444 km²	320 Ew/km²	Antillean guilder (ANG)	Papiamento, Dutch, English; Spanish
Sint Maarten Sint Maarten			33.119 (2007)	34 km²	974 Ew/km²	Antillean guilder (ANG)	Dutch, English; Spanish, local Creole

Map with the countries in the same scale