The end of the Netherlands Antilles as a unified political entity has come a step closer. The Antilles consist of two groups of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Together they form an autonomous unit within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

On Thursday, the Lower House of the Dutch parliament agreed that the islands of Curaçao and Sint Maarten would continue as autonomous countries within the Kingdom. It further agreed that the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba would form a kind of local council.
 
The Socialist party, the conservative VVD, the Freedom Party and Verdonk all voted against the changes. Following the Lower House’s decision, the Upper House must now also approve the reforms. The new arrangement is scheduled to take effect on 10 October.
 
The Lower House also announced that a Dutch-Antilles police unit formed to combat serious crime would not be dissolved. The cabinet had planned a gradual transfer of the unit’s activities to local police forces during, or at the end of, the next two years. When the transfer was complete, the unit would be shut down. Such a move has now been postponed for at least four years.
 
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