The Caribbean Netherlands refers to a group of three special municipalities of the Netherlands
that are located in the Caribbean Sea: the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba,
which are also known as the BES islands.
The islands currently are classified as within the overseas countries and territories of
the EU, and thus do not form part of the EU.
Bonaire is located east of Aruba and Curaçao, close to the coast of Venezuela.
Sint Eustatius and Saba are located south of Sint Maarten and northwest of Saint Kitts
and Nevis.
The three islands gained their current status following the dissolution of the Netherlands
Antilles on 10 October 2010, while at the same time the islands of Curaçao and Sint
Maarten became autonomous countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Distinctly, the Caribbean Netherlands does not include these autonomous countries as
it refers only to those Caribbean islands that are administrative divisions of the country
of the Netherlands, as opposed to the complete Dutch Caribbean which includes all the Caribbean
islands within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The BES islands have a collective population of 21,000 and a total area of 328 square kilometres.
Administration The special municipalities carry many of the
functions normally performed by Dutch municipalities.
The executive power rests with the Governing Council headed by a Lieutenant governor.
The main democratic body is the island council.
Residents of these three islands are entitled to vote in Dutch national and in European
elections.
Officially the islands are classed in Dutch law as being openbare lichamen and not gemeenten.
Unlike normal municipalities, they do not form part of a Dutch province and the powers
normally exercised by provincial councils within municipalities are divided between
the island governments themselves and the central government by means of the National
Office for the Caribbean Netherlands.
For this reason, they are called "special" municipalities.
For many Dutch laws there is a special BES version.
For example, social security is not on the same level as it is in the European Netherlands.
National Office
The National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands has assumed responsibility for taxation, policing,
immigration, transport infrastructure, health, education, and social security in the islands
and provides these services on behalf of the Government of the Netherlands.
This agency was established as the Regional Service Center in 2008 and became the National
Office for the Caribbean Netherlands on 1 September 2010.
The current director is Sybren van Dam.
The Representative for the public bodies of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba represents
the Government of the Netherlands on the islands and also performs tasks similar to a King's
Commissioner.
The current representative is Wilbert Stolte.
Relationship with the European Union The islands do not form part of the European
Union and instead constitute "overseas countries and territories" of the Union, to which special
provisions apply.
The Lisbon Treaty introduced a procedure where the European Council may change the status
of an overseas territory of Denmark, France, or the Netherlands regarding the application
of the EU treaties to that territory.
In June 2008, the Dutch government published a survey of the legal and economic impacts
by a switched status from OCT to OMR.
The position of the islands will be reviewed after a five-year transitional period, which
began with the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in October 2010.
The review will be conducted as part of the planned review of the Dutch "Act for the Public
body Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba", where the islands have been granted the option to
become an Outermost region - and thus a direct part of the European Union.
Geography The Caribbean Netherlands form part of the
Lesser Antilles.
Within this island group, Bonaire is part of the ABC islands within
the Leeward Antilles island chain off the Venezuelan coast.
The Leeward Antilles have a mixed volcanic and coral origin.
Saba and Sint Eustatius are part of the SSS islands.
They are located east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Although in the English language they are considered part of the Leeward Islands, French,
Spanish, Dutch and the English spoken locally consider them part of the Windward Islands.
The Windward Islands are all of volcanic origin and hilly, leaving little ground suitable
for agriculture.
The highest point is Mount Scenery, 887 metres, on Saba.
Climate The islands of the Caribbean Netherlands enjoy
a tropical climate with warm weather all year round.
The Leeward Islands are warmer and drier than the Windward islands.
In summer, the Windward Islands can be subject to hurricanes.
Currency Until 1 January 2011, the three islands used
the Netherlands Antillean guilder; after that all three switched to the US dollar, rather
than the euro or the Caribbean guilder.
The decision to introduce the US dollar on the three islands was taken in November 2008.
Communications The telephone country code remains 599, that
of the former Netherlands Antilles, and is shared with Curaçao.
The International Organization for Standardization has assigned the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country
code ISO 3166-2:BQ for these islands.
The IANA has not established a root zone for the .bq Internet ccTLD and whether it will
be used is unknown.
See also
Bonaire constitutional referendum, 2010 Identity cards of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius
and Saba Postage stamps and postal history of the Caribbean
Netherlands
Notes ^ "Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba" is the
listed English name for the territorial grouping in the International Organization for Standardization's
ISO 3166-1, where the English spelling was corrected with the release of ISO 3166-1 Newsletter
VI-9.
^ Per the Annex II of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
^ Now contained in Article 355(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
References
External links Official website of the National Office for
the Caribbean Netherlands Official website of the government of Bonaire
Official website of the government of Saba Official website of the government of St.
Eustatius