Caribbean Netherlands
The special municipalities ( Dutch bijzondere gemeenten ) of the Netherlands are the three " islands " Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba of the former Netherlands Antilles. These are also called BES islands (Dutch BES eilanden, an acronym ) or Caribbean Netherlands (Dutch Caribisch Nederland).
BES - islands
The islands are, since the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on 10 October 2010 Part of the Netherlands, forming the particular communities. Dutch laws are not automatically in the Caribbean Netherlands, valid, and therefore they form a separate legal territory in the Kingdom (next to Aruba, Curaçao, the European Netherlands and Sint Maarten ).
History
The island regions (Dutch: eilandgebieden ) Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius were together with other Caribbean territories parts of the 1954 newly established autonomous region Netherlands Antilles.
Before the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, the opinion of the population was asked the whereabouts of their islands in referendums. Only Sint Eustatius has chosen to remain in the National Association of the Netherlands Antilles, standing with his opinion but alone because all the other islands were in favor of the resolution. Since then, the politicians of this island and the islands of Bonaire and Saba advocated direct relations with the Netherlands. On 11 October 2006, Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius agreed with the Dutch government on the integration of the islands into the Netherlands as "special municipalities ".
On 10 October 2010 the National Association Netherlands Antilles was dissolved on 1 January 2011 and replaced the U.S. dollar the previously operated Antilles Guilder as legal tender from. The Antillean guilder was invalid within one month in the particular communities, but remained the currency on Curaçao and Sint Maarten. The resolution of the National Association of the Netherlands Antilles and the inclusion of the islands in the Netherlands had no direct impact on the status of the islands as with the European Union associated overseas territories ( " OCT "). Earliest, in a few years to be decided whether the islands should be included as areas outermost accordance with Article 355 paragraph 2 TFEU in the European Union.