The role of the Kingdom Representative for Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (BES islands) is set to change un­der a proposal by State Secretary for Digitisation and Kingdom Re­lations, Zsolt Szabó. The revised responsibilities aim to enhance good governance and financial stability in the Caribbean Neth­erlands.

The changes will be included in the amendments to the “Wet openbare lichamen Bonaire, Sint Eustatius en Saba” (WolBES) and the “Wet financiën openbare lichamen Bonaire, Sint Eustatius en Saba” (FinBES). These laws define the governance structure and financial regulations of the three special municipalities.

Szabo emphasised the impor­tance of intergovernmental over­sight, stating, “Intergovernmen­tal supervision, where and when necessary, requires intensive administrative involvement. This can be shaped more effectively and more appropriately by the Kingdom Representative than by a government member in The Hague. The Kingdom Represen­ative is much better able to be on location quickly and knows the special circumstances of the ad­ministration of Bonaire, St. Eu­statius and Saba.”

While the position of the King­dom Representative will remain, its function will shift towards ensuring good governance and overseeing intergovernmental su­pervision. This means a reduced focus on advocating for the is­lands at the national level.

The three islands have also indi­cated their intention to establish permanent representation in The Hague. With this development, the Kingdom Representative’s coordinating role as an interme­diary between the BES islands and the Dutch government will no longer be necessary. The Ex­ecutive Councils of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba have already been informed of these proposed changes.

The amendments to WoIBES and FinBES will be finalised in the coming weeks. A public Internet consultation on the changes is scheduled for the second quarter of 2025, and the bill is expected to be submitted to the House of Representatives in early 2026.

These adjustments will also impact a separate pro­posal within the bill: the increase in the number of Island Council members. Due to the revised timeline, this change will likely not take effect before the 2027 Island Council elections. Instead, the expansion of council seats is expected to be implemented by 2031.

The proposal to increase the number of Island Coun­cil members was first intro­duced in 2022 by former State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen. She argued that the councils were no longer proportionate to the population growth since WolBES was enacted in 2010. Increasing the num­ber of members would broaden political repre­sentation and strengthen democratic oversight.

Under the original plan, the composition of the Is­land Councils in the Carib­bean Netherlands would have been significantly expanded to better reflect population growth and strengthen governance. Bo­naire’s Island Council was set to increase from nine to 15 seats by 2027, with a fur­ther expansion to 19 seats by 2031.

Meanwhile, St. Eusta­tius was expected to see its council grow from five to 11 seats in 2027, while Saba’s council would expand from five to nine seats in the same year.

These changes were in­tended to enhance politi­cal representation, improve administrative capacity and ensure that local gov­ernments could effectively meet the growing needs of their communities.

Van Huffelen also sug­gested aligning the BES electoral system with that of Dutch municipali­ties, where the number of council members is based on population size, with a minimum of nine represen­tatives per island.

With the revised legisla­tive timeline, the expan­sion of the Island Councils will now be postponed until 2031.

The Daily Herald.