Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

The Council of Ministers of the Kingdom (Dutch: Ministerraad van het Koninkrijk or Rijksministerraad) is the executive council of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which is a state consisting of four constituent countries: Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten.

[citation needed] Designs of Kingdom Acts and General Measures of Kingdom Governance (Dutch: Algemene maatregel van rijksbestuur) are discussed by the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom before they go to the Council of State of the Kingdom (Dutch: Raad van State van het Koninkrijk) The Council of Ministers of the Kingdom consists of the Council of Ministers of the Netherlands complemented by one Minister Plenipotentiary of Aruba, one Minister Plenipotentiary of Curaçao, and one Minister Plenipotentiary of Sint Maarten.

From 1955 till 2010, this included a Minister Plenipotentiary of The Netherlands Antilles.

Therefore, the Ministers Plenipotentiary usually do not resign in the event of a Dutch cabinet crisis.

[1] Though the Kingdom of the Netherlands is statutorily distinguished from its constituent country of the Netherlands, the Council of Ministers, while mentioned in the Statute is, according to Article 5 of the Statute regulated by the Constitution.

Meeting in 1971 of the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom under supervision of the premier Barend Biesheuvel (middle). Behind him are the Plenipotentiary Ministers of Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles, Desi Polanen and Boy Rozendal .