What is Dismantling?
In short it means the dissolving of the Country the Netherlands Antilles which consists of five island territories, namely Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten. The Netherlands Antilles have to be dissolved to create the new entities. St.Maarten and Curaçao will become countries in the Dutch Kingdom. That was decided in the historic November 2, 2006 meeting in The Hague. It was there that the Final Declaration (Slotverklaring) was signed. The so-called BES islands, Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius, had already come to an agreement with the Netherlands a month earlier. On October 11, 2006 parties agreed that the three islands would become a public entity (openbaar lichaam) of the Netherlands. This means that they will become sort of a municipality. The December 15, 2008 target date to dismantle
the Netherlands Antilles was set during a meeting on St. Maarten on February 12, 2007. St. Maarten, the BES islands, the Central Government and the Dutch Government at that time signed the Transition Accord. Curaçaoâ??s Island Council initially rejected the Transition Accord, but rejoined the process a few months later, in July.
The process of constitutional change is the result of different referenda held in the past in which the people expressed their desire as to the future status of their island. The dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles is a responsibility of the Central Government, specifically the Council of Ministers. A special team, the Project Organisation Dismantling of the Country
the Netherlands Antilles POLNA has been charged to guide the dismantling. The Central Government wants to go about the dismantling in a correct and responsible manner. After all, the country has responsibilities which cannot just be put aside. What would happen for example if the Central Government didnâ??t take care of justice? If it didnâ??t look after the
police forces on the islands, or the prisons, or making sure that there is a Court system? Or if it didnâ??t make sure the standard of health care and education remained at a certain level? And what if the Central Government didnâ??t keep an eye on the aerial space around the islands? What would we do without a Parliament that is there for checks and balances, and to pass
legislation? Eventually, the people would suffer. So, dissolving of the Netherlands Antilles will take place through the transfer of tasks and responsibilities to the new entities.
