Kingdom of the Netherlands

"I'll stand "

(in four autonomous regions divided )

UTC 1 CET UTC 2 GMT ( March to October)

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a structured into four parts state in Europe and in the Caribbean. The individual parts of the country are autonomous and have their own government and currency. For Kingdom include the Netherlands and the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten, which (only up to 1986 Aruba ) formed the Netherlands Antilles until 2010.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a constitutional federation -like structure between the Netherlands and the Dutch Caribbean islands. They are connected by the " Statute for the Kingdom of the Netherlands". In addition, there are a Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands ( Grondwet, with general and Netherlands - specific products) as well as the constitutions ( Staatsregeling ) of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten.

Parts of the country

History

Since the 17th century, the Netherlands had colonies in other continents. After the Second World War was a rapid decolonization of these areas with people of their own history, culture and identity, instead. Under the political pressure of the United Nations and the United States, the Netherlands dismissed the land in Indonesia 's sovereignty as a state. Until 1954, there was still a loose Dutch - Indonesian Union, but broke the dispute over New Guinea. New Guinea remained for some years under the Dutch administration. Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles were also Dutch.

With the Netherlands Antilles and Suriname, it was possible to reach an agreement on a new construction of the kingdom. Here, autonomy and equality for the overseas parts of the territory were guaranteed. In 1954 the colonial 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 were countries of the Kingdom and were given internal autonomy.

In 1962, New Guinea was administered by the United Nations and in 1963 Indonesia passed. Suriname became effective on November 25, 1975 from from the kingdom and became an independent republic. At this time there was the Kingdom of the Netherlands of only two countries.

1986 Aruba got, until now a part of the Netherlands Antilles, the status of a separate country within the Kingdom. Since then, the Kingdom consisted of three countries by 2010. Aruba received as " distinctive state " his, was provided in the Statute of the Kingdom that Aruba in 1992 leaving the UK and therefore should be independent. This project, however, was dropped.

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

The organs of the Kingdom

The Kingdom is an international legal entity and does not have a fortune.

The statute determines which organs the Kingdom. The King (or Queen ) is head of the kingdom. The king is represented in each case in Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten by a governor, who is appointed on proposals from the respective government by the monarch. The statute known as other organs of the Kingdom, for example, the Imperial Government, the Reich Ministers, the Council of State of the Kingdom and the legislative power of the kingdom.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands does not own organs, but uses the organs of the Netherlands. When an organ occurs as an organ of the Kingdom, the governments of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten can often add one member to the respective organ. For example, if the Dutch Council of Ministers acts as the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom, the Minister Plenipotentiary of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten are present. These three ministers have authorized their permanent offices in The Hague.

Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the Caribbean Netherlands have a common Court: The High Council of the Netherlands in The Hague is the Supreme Court of the Netherlands. Due to the statute, the High Council is also shown as the Supreme Court each for Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten.

Because the UK does not have an organization, it is not a state in the proper sense.

Affairs of the Kingdom

Affairs of the kingdom are the handling of the independence, foreign relations, defense, the legal regulation of nationality, the legal regulation of the order of knighthood, the flag and the coat of arms of the Kingdom, the nationality of ships, statutory provisions concerning ships which flag that of the Kingdom (except the sailing ships ), naturalization and deportation of Dutch and foreigners and extradition. The safeguarding of human rights and fundamental freedoms, legal security and the suitability of the administration are also matters of the kingdom. Other matters may be declared a matter of the kingdom.

Reich laws

If laws on matters of the kingdom shall be adopted, the legislature of the Kingdom is responsible. His laws are called " laws of the Empire ." Exception are affairs of the kingdom, that apply only to the Netherlands. According to Articles 10 and 14 of the Staff Regulations, these are dealt with by the Netherlands Kingdom of the Netherlands without statutäre procedures.

The legislature of the Kingdom consists of the national government and the States General, the Parliament in The Hague. The "states", the popular representative of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten are also turned on. While the states can not veto, but the Minister Plenipotentiary of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten can explain the Reich Ministers that their country was seriously affected by a draft law. The law can then be adopted only if it is determined that it will not apply in the country of the relevant Minister, unless the unity of the kingdom does not make possible this exceptional position. In addition, the Minister Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary representatives of the respective States may lodge a complaint with the trial in the States-General. In this case, the law can be adopted with only 60 % of the vote. Otherwise, the transaction is set and there are further consultations take place.

The state regulations of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten and the Basic Law of the Netherlands are subordinate to the Staff Regulations of the Kingdom. However, the Dutch constitution is in certain aspects also apply to the other parts of the kingdom; e.g. in the rules of succession of the royal family. In these cases, the Dutch Constitution be amended only by a Reich law. Likewise, the article of the Dutch constitution regarding human rights can only be changed by a Reich law, since the safeguarding of human rights is a matter of the whole kingdom.

A change of the Statute of the Kingdom itself is only possible by Reich law. However, a Reich law amending the Staff Regulations is only possible when this change was decided only in Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten by law.

Naturally, the focus is on the legislative process and in the administration of the kingdom in the Netherlands, as they are the largest, most populous and economically important of the four countries.

Sovereignty and Regent

The Kingdom is a sovereign state. The individual countries, however, are not sovereign. Changes to the statute are only possible through all four countries. Therefore, none of the four countries to unilaterally disengage from the Kingdom Association.

Willem- Alexander is since April 30, 2013 King of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010

In previous years, more and more had been found that the statute of the kingdom was no longer up to date. It should therefore be redesigned. On all the islands of the Netherlands Antilles had been held referendums. The island territory of Sint Maarten and Curaçao wanted a distinctive status gain ( a special ) as Aruba and thus become autonomous countries within the Kingdom. The population of Bonaire and Saba argued for a connection to the Netherlands from European ( and would prevent EU citizens ), while the population of the island of St. Eustatius wanted to continue to belong to the Netherlands Antilles (which is impossible as the only supporters of the status quo was ).

On 15 December 2008, the King Reichstag, an agreement on the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles was during a " Round - Table Conference " on Curaçao signed. Curaçao and Sint Maarten should thus as a new autonomous countries, belong comparable with the status of Aruba, the Kingdom. The islands of Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius (so-called BES islands ) should have a special status as municipalities within the Netherlands received without belonging to a Dutch province. The official collective name for the Dutch overseas communities in the Caribbean is " Caribbean Netherlands " ( Caribisch Nederland). The final restructuring was finally implemented on 10 October 2010 and the State Association of the Netherlands Antilles was lifted.

International cooperation

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a member of, among others, in the following international organizations:

Benelux
United Nations
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
NATO
OECD
Euro Europe
European Union

Relation to the European Union

Formally, the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands is a member of the European Union. In fact, however, apply Aruba, Sint Maarten, Curaçao and - although they belong to the part of the country the Netherlands - the BES islands as " Overseas countries and territories " ( overseas countries and territories ) according to the fourth part of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. In these areas, only some aspects of European law apply, and they do not belong in accordance with Article 3, paragraph 1 Customs Code and the Customs territory of the European Union. However, since the citizenship law is a matter of the whole kingdom, the citizens of the overseas kingdom parts are still citizens of the Union.

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