Today I received the answer:eddydevries wrote:I think that one of the reasons they don't have to change to the Euro, that they are a "Special municipality of the Netherlands" (for example: they don't belong to a "Province" like other municipalities do).
Before the reorganisation the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisted of 3 parts: the Netherlands, Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles.
All three had different money (like you see nowadays in Great-Brittain: there are different kinds of Pounds):
The Netherlands: Dutch Guilder (which exchanged in Euro in 2002)
Aruba: Aruban Florin
Netherlands Antilles: Netherlands Antillean guilder
According to the Central Bank they decided to change to the US-Dollar, because most visitors are from the US or US-Dollar using countries.
But I have sent an e-mail to the National Bank to ask why they could choose, which currency to use.
Translated:Anders dan de Europese Unie hebben de Verenigde Staten er geen bezwaar tegen als andere landen de dollar als wettig betaalmiddel gebruiken. Om de genoemde redenen op de website is dan ook gekozen voor de dollar als wettig betaalmiddel op de BES eilanden. Tevens bepaalt de Raad van de EU welke landen of gebieden toetreden tot het eurogebied, hier worden ook weer juridische en economische eisen aan gesteld.
De BES eilanden hebben binnen Nederland de status van openbaar lichaam, binnen de EU hebben zij echter de status van 'Landen en Gebieden Overzee (LGO)': http://www.minbuza.nl/ecer/dossiers/lan ... verzee-lgo
The last sentence means that the islands are part of the country, but for the EU they can be a seperated member with exceptions. In this case the decision to use the dollar in stead of the Euro.Not like the European Union the United States have no objection against using the US dollar as legal currency by other countries. For the reasons given on the website (I mentioned above) the US-Dollar has been chosen as legal currency for the BES islands (Bonaire, Sint-Eustatius and Saba). Also decides the Council of the EU which countries and areas enter the Eurozone, for this there are legal and economical rules set for.
The BES islands have the status of Public Body within the Netherlands, but within the EU they have the status of Overseas countries and territories (OTC).
And for your information Art, Italy also has two "Special Areas": Campione d'Italia and Livigno (see here).
In Campione d'Italia the Euro isn't the legal currency either . Officially there you pay with the Swiss Franc.