Nowy ład na Antylach Holenderskich
New governance in Dutch Antilles

Summary/Abstract: As a result of the constitutional reform carried out in the Kingdom of the Netherlands inOctober 2010, existing Netherlands Antilles have been resolved. Currently, the Kingdomof the Netherlands consists of four autonomous states: the Kingdom of the Netherlands,Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, along with three special municipalities: Bonair, SintEustatius and Saba (BES). The special municipalities now bear the name of theCaribbean Netherlands (Caribisch Nederland). The new autonomous countries have theirown governments and parliaments. Special municipalities have two levels of authorities.The first one representing the central authorities of the Kingdom of the Netherlands andthe 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 theCaribbean Netherlands remain the responsibility of the Kingdom of the Netherlands withone Minister of Foreign Affairs and one single foreign service. The countries Aruba,Curaçao and Sint Maarten have their Foreign Affairs Departments. On Sint Maarten, thisname 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 becamethe U.S. dollar. In the countries of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, the Antillian Guilder(Antilliaanse Gulden) remains in circulation until the Caribbean Guilder will beintroduced.The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a member of the European Union. Aruba, Curaçaoand 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 refersonly to those Caribbean islands that are administrative divisions of the Kingdom of theNetherlands. The name Dutch Caribbean refers to all the Caribbean islands within theKingdom of the Netherlands.

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