Culturally, the Leeward Antilles (ABC Islands) have connections with the South American mainland, and its population speaks Papiamento, a Portuguese-based creole with heavy Spanish and Dutch influence.

After long negotiations, it was agreed that Aruba could get its status aparte and become a separate country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1986, but only on the condition that it would become fully independent in 1996.

[4] On the other hand, the Netherlands became more and more aware that the ties with the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom would probably endure for a longer period of time.

Suriname, the other partner of the Kingdom that attained independence in 1975, had gone through a period of dictatorship and civil war, which weakened the pro-independence ideology of the Dutch government.

Aruba and the Netherlands agreed in July 1990 to delete Article 62, which foresaw Aruban independence in 1996, from the Charter.

[5] Meanwhile, the permanent position of Aruba as a separate country within the Kingdom led to calls for a similar arrangement for the other islands, especially on Sint Maarten.

In March 1990, Dutch Minister of Aruban and Antillean Affairs Ernst Hirsch Ballin came up with a draft for a new Kingdom Charter, in which the Leeward Antilles islands of Curaçao and Bonaire, and the Leeward Islands of Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten would form two new countries within the Kingdom.

The BES islands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba) have become direct parts of the Netherlands as special municipalities (bijzondere gemeenten), a form of "public body" (openbaar lichaam) as outlined in article 134 of the Dutch Constitution.

The three islands will have to involve the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs before they can make agreements with countries in the region.

The special municipalities would be represented in the Kingdom Government by the Netherlands, as they can vote for the States-General (the Dutch parliament).

However, Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten have the status of overseas countries and territories (OCTs) and are not part of the EU.

[16] On 1 September 2009, Saba announced that it wished to withdraw from the Netherlands Antilles immediately, rather than wait until October 2010.

[17] However, according to Dutch State Secretary Bijleveld for Kingdom Relations, it was not legally possible for Saba to become separate from the Antilles earlier.

In this way the future countries of Sint Maarten and Curaçao will be able to draft their constitutions and fundamental legislation before the new relations within the Kingdom are to take effect.

[21][22] On 21 November 2008, five draft acts for the integration of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba into the Netherlands were accepted by the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom.

The European Council may, on the initiative of the Member State concerned, adopt a decision amending the status, with regard to the Union, of a Danish, French or Netherlands country or territory referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2.