Netherlands

The Dutch United Provinces declared their independence from Spain in 1579; during the 17th century, they became a leading seafaring and commercial power, with settlements and colonies around the world. After a 20-year French occupation, a Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed in 1815. In 1830, Belgium seceded and formed a separate kingdom. The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I, but suffered German invasion and occupation in World War II. A modern, industrialized nation, the Netherlands is also a large exporter of agricultural products.

The country was a founding member of NATO and the EEC (now the EU) and participated in the introduction of the euro in 1999. In October 2010, the former Netherlands Antilles was dissolved and the three smallest islands - Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba - became special municipalities in the Netherlands administrative structure. The larger islands of Sint Maarten and Curacao joined the Netherlands and Aruba as constituent countries forming the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

In February 2018, the Sint Eustatius island council (governing body) was dissolved and replaced by a government commissioner to restore the integrity of public administration. According to the Dutch Government, the intervention will be as "short as possible and as long as needed."

party to:

Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Multi-effect Protocol, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

name:

Amsterdam; note - The Hague is the seat of government

geographic coordinates:

52 21 N, 4 55 E

time difference:

UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

daylight saving time:

+1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October

time zone note:

time descriptions apply to the continental Netherlands only, for the constituent countries in the Caribbean, the time difference is UTC-4

etymology:

the original Dutch name, Amstellerdam, meaning "a dam on the Amstel River," dates to the 13th century; over time the name simplified to Amsterdam

• 12 provinces (provincies, singular - provincie), 3 public entities* (openbare lichamen, singular - openbaar lichaam (Dutch); entidatnan publiko, singular - entidat publiko (Papiamento));
• Bonaire*, Drenthe, Flevoland, Fryslan (Friesland), Gelderland, Groningen, Limburg, Noord-Brabant (North Brabant), Noord-Holland (North Holland), Overijssel, Saba*, Sint Eustatius*, Utrecht, Zeeland (Zealand), Zuid-Holland (South Holland)

note 1: the Netherlands is one of four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; the other three, Aruba, Curacao, and Sint Maarten, are all islands in the Caribbean;

while all four parts are considered equal partners, in practice, most of the Kingdom's affairs are administered by the Netherlands, which makes up about 98% of the Kingdom's total land area and population

note 2: although Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius are officially incorporated into the country of the Netherlands under the broad designation of "public entities," Dutch Government sources regularly apply to them the more descriptive term of "special municipalities"; Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius are collectively referred to as the Caribbean Netherlands

description:

bicameral States General or Staten Generaal consists of:; First Chamber or Eerste Kamer (75 seats; members indirectly elected by the country's 12 provincial council members by proportional representation vote; members serve 4-year terms); Second Chamber or Tweede Kamer (150 seats; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by open-list proportional representation vote to serve up to 4-year terms)

elections:

First Chamber - last held on 27 May 2019 (next to be held in May 2023); Second Chamber - last held on 15-17 March 2021 (next to be held on 31 March 2025)

election results:

• First Chamber - percent of vote by party - FvD 15.9%, VVD 15.1%, CDA 11.4%, GL 11.2%, D66 8.8%, LP 8.6%, PVV 6.5%, SP 5.9%, CU 5%, other 11.6%;
• seats by party - FvD 12, VVD 12, CDA 9, GL 8, D66 7, LP 6, PVV 5, SP 4, CU 4, other 8;
• composition (as of September 2021) - men 46, women 29, percent of women 38.7%

;

• Second Chamber - percent of vote by party - VVD 21.9%, D66 15%, PVV 10.8%, CDA 9.5%, ,SP 9.1%, PvdA 5.7%, GL 5.2%, FvD 5%, PvdD 3.8%, CU 3.4%, other 13.7%;
• seats by party - VVD 34, D66 24, PVV 17, CDA 15, GL 8, FvD8, PvdD 6, CU 5, other 8;
• composition (as of September 2021) - men 91, women 59, percent of women 39.3%;
• note - total States General percent of women 39.1%

Christian Democratic Appeal or CDA [Wopke HOEKSTRA]

Christian Union or CU [Gert-Jan SEGERS]

Democrats 66 or D66 [Rob JETTEN]

Denk [Tunahan KUZU]

50 Plus [Henk KROL]

Forum for Democracy or FvD [Thierry BAUDET]

Green Left or GL [Jesse KLAVER]

Labor Party or PvdA [Lilianne PLOUMEN]

Party for Freedom or PVV [Geert WILDERS]

Party for the Animals or PvdD [Esther OUWENHAND]

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy or VVD [Mark RUTTE]

Reformed Political Party or SGP [Kees VAN DER STAAIJ]

Socialist Party or SP [Lilian MARIJNISSEN]

plus a few minor parties

name:

"Het Wilhelmus" (The William)

lyrics/music:

Philips VAN MARNIX van Sint Aldegonde (presumed)/unknown

note: adopted 1932, in use since the 17th century, making it the oldest national anthem in the world; also known as "Wilhelmus van Nassouwe" (William of Nassau),

it is in the form of an acrostic, where the first letter of each stanza spells the name of the leader of the Dutch Revolt

The Netherlands, the sixth-largest economy in the European Union, plays an important role as a European transportation hub, with a consistently high trade surplus, stable industrial relations, and low unemployment. Industry focuses on food processing, chemicals, petroleum refining, and electrical machinery.

A highly mechanized agricultural sector employs only 2% of the labor force but provides large surpluses for food-processing and underpins the country’s status as the world’s second largest agricultural exporter.

The Netherlands is part of the euro zone, and as such, its monetary policy is controlled by the European Central Bank. The Dutch financial sector is highly concentrated, with four commercial banks possessing over 80% of banking assets, and is four times the size of Dutch GDP.

In 2008, during the financial crisis, the government budget deficit hit 5.3% of GDP. Following a protracted recession from 2009 to 2013, during which unemployment doubled to 7.4% and household consumption contracted for four consecutive years, economic growth began inching forward in 2014.

Since 2010, Prime Minister Mark RUTTE’s government has implemented significant austerity measures to improve public finances and has instituted broad structural reforms in key policy areas, including the labor market, the housing sector, the energy market, and the pension system.

In 2017, the government budget returned to a surplus of 0.7% of GDP, with economic growth of 3.2%, and GDP per capita finally surpassed pre-crisis levels. The fiscal policy announced by the new government in the 2018-2021 coalition plans for increases in government consumption and public investment, fueling domestic demand and household consumption and investment.

The new government’s policy also plans to increase demand for workers in the public and private sector, forecasting a further decline in the unemployment rate, which hit 4.8% in 2017.

general assessment:

• highly developed and well maintained;
• Dutch telecom market is gradually migrating to upgraded platforms;
• operators repurposing their spectrum and physical assets for LTE and 5G;
• one of the highest fixed broadband penetration rates in the world, with competition between DSL and fiber networks;
• fixed-line voice market is in decline while VoIP and mobile platforms advance;
• plans for 3G network shutdown in 2023;
• operators are concentrating investment on LTE-A and 5G services;
• operators and banks launch m-payments system;
• adoption of smart city concepts and technology in major cities;
• major exporter of broadcasting equipment and computers to Europe, and importer of same from China (2020)

domestic:

• extensive fixed-line, fiber-optic network;
• large cellular telephone system with five major operators utilizing the third generation of the Global System for Mobile Communications technology;
• one in five households now use Voice over the Internet Protocol services;
• fixed-line 33 per 100 and mobile-cellular 127 per 100 persons (2019)

international:

• country code - 31;
• landing points for Farland North, TAT-14, Circe North, Concerto, Ulysses 2, AC-1, UK-Netherlands 14, and COBRAcable submarine cables which provide links to the US and Europe;
• satellite earth stations - 5 (3 Intelsat - 1 Indian Ocean and 2 Atlantic Ocean, 1 Eutelsat, and 1 Inmarsat) (2019)

note: the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production;

many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes;

the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments

the Netherlands is a member of NATO and was one of the original 12 countries to sign the North Atlantic Treaty (also known as the Washington Treaty) in 1949

since 1973, the Dutch Marine Corps has worked closely with the British Royal Marines, including jointly in the UK-Netherlands amphibious landing force

a Dutch Army airmobile infantry brigade and a mechanized infantry brigade have been integrated into the German Army since 2014 and 2016 respectively

in 2018, the Defense Ministers of Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the creation of a Composite Special Operations Component Command (C-SOCC); the C-SOCC was declared operational in December 2020 (2021)