The
Council of Ministers of the Kingdom () 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. 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. The
Dutch Prime Minister chairs the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom. Together with the
Queen the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom forms the Government of the Kingdom, also known as the Crown.
A significant difference between the Netherlands Ministers and the Ministers Plenipotentiary is that the former Ministers are accountable for their politics and policies to the Dutch parliament. The Ministers Plenipotentiary, however, are accountable to their national governments. Therefore, the Ministers Plenipotentiary usually do not resign in the event of a Dutch cabinet crisis.
Though the Kingdom of the Netherlands is statutory distinguished from the
Netherlands, and therefore the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom is a distinct body from the
Council of Ministers of the Netherlands it is often perceived as being the same body, since the Netherlands is by far the most powerful of the four countries in federal affairs.
Laws applicable to the whole Kingdom are known as Kingdom Acts. An example of such a law is...
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