Kingdom of the Netherlands contains the administrative territorial entity Aruba
Constitutional reform of the Netherlands Antilles
In 2004, a joint commission proposed major reforms for the Netherlands Antilles. On 11 October and 2 November 2006, agreements were signed between the Dutch government and the governments of each island that would put into effect the commission's findings by 15 December 2008. The reform took effect on 10 October 2010. Under these reforms, the Netherlands Antilles were dissolved and Curaçao and Sint Maarten became constituent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, obtaining the same status as Aruba which seceded from the Netherlands Antilles in 1986.
The BES islands (i.e., Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius) became direct parts of the Netherlands, which is itself the major constituent country of the Kingdom. As special municipalities, they were constituted as "public bodies" (Dutch: openbare lichamen) under the Constitution for the Kingdom of the Netherlands. These municipalities resemble ordinary Dutch municipalities in most ways (e.g., they have mayors, aldermen, and municipal councils) and the laws of the Netherlands would operate in them. As a transitional measure, however, only Netherlands law necessary to function within its legal system took immediate effect when the BES islands joined the Netherlands on 10 October 2010, while most laws of the Netherlands Antilles remained in force. Since that date, Dutch legislation slowly replaced Netherlands Antilles laws. Nevertheless, some derogations exist: e.g., social security is not at the same level as in the European part of the Netherlands, and the islands' currency is the U.S. dollar, not the euro.The special municipalities will be represented in the affairs of the Kingdom by the Netherlands, as they vote for the Dutch parliament. The Dutch Senate is chosen by provincial councils; however, as the BES islands are not part of any province, each elects an electoral college who then choose the Senators similarly to the provincial councils.The Netherlands has proposed to conducted a study on the BES islands acquiring the European Union status of Outermost Regions (OMR), also called Ultra Peripheral Regions (UPR). The study would also look into how the islands would fare under UPR status.
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