Netherlands

Netherlands

Netherlands / is a constituent country that forms the European part of the lowland kingdom which formally consists of a European part that includes twelve provinces, is located in northwestern Europe, and a Caribbean part consists of three islands in the Caribbean in Latin America. The European part borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares its maritime borders with Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom.

The system of government in the Netherlands is a parliamentary democracy, and its official capital is Amsterdam, while the king and government are based in The Hague. The port of Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe - and the size of the three ports that follow together - and was the largest port in the world between 1962 and 2004.

The Netherlands is one of the first countries to introduce the system of elected parliaments, and it is a founding member of the European Union, the euro area, the Group of Ten, NATO, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Trade Organization, and the Triple Economic Union Benelux. It hosts the headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and five international courts: the Permanent Court of Arbitration and the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Court and the International Tribunal for Lebanon. The headquarters of the first four courts are located in The Hague, just as is the case with the headquarters of the European Union's Criminal Intelligence Agency, Europol, and the European Judicial Cooperation Agency, Europe.

About half of the area of ​​the Netherlands is located below the sea level in a region inhabited by about 21% of the total population, while the other half of its territory is located less than one meter (3.28 feet) above sea level. It is this geographical feature that gave the country its name: the lowlands. Most of the lowlands below sea level were human-induced as a result of unfair peat operations (a charred plant) that lasted for centuries on a large scale, and by bulldozing even inFlooded areas, causing the land to drop below sea level. In the late sixteenth century AD, reclamation operations began for marine lands, and large areas of this land were preserved to date through drainage systems for dams, canals and pumping stations. Most of the land of the Netherlands is formed from the mouths of three important European rivers, which together with its branches form the Rhine - Diamond - Schelde delta. Most of the country is very flat, with the exception of a few individual hillsides in the far southeast, and a low-rise hill chain in the central parts.

The delta business project was started after the North Sea flood disaster in 1953. The project consists of a comprehensive set of civil engineering works along the Dutch coast in 1958, and the bulk of the project was completed in 1997 with the completion of the construction of the Mizlantiring Storm Flood Barrier.

Then, other new projects were started periodically to renew these works and maintain construction and engineering equipment. The main objective of the delta project was to reduce the risk of floods in the south of the Netherlands and Zealand and reduce its incidence to an average of once every 10,000 years (compared to 1 every 4,000 years for the rest of the country).

This was achieved through the construction of 3,000 km (1,864 mi) of offshore dams and 10,000 km (6,214 mi) of inland dams and river dams, and the closure of estuaries in Zeeland Province. The risk assessments revealed the possibility of new problems requiring additional delta reinforcements. The American Society of Civil Engineers considered these delta works one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

One of the consequences of climate change is protecting the country from floods. The other results are the increase in the pressure of sea water on groundwater, and as a result, fresh groundwater will decline more and more inland, which will lead to an increase in saline groundwater or salt surface water in coastal provinces. Accordingly, authorities in some areas will be forced to implement a desalination system, despite the presence of a clear abundance of fresh drinking water.

Agriculture will also be affected, and greenhouses can continue to produce if water sources are dealt with more efficiently (they do not actually rely on groundwater and therefore will not become more salty) although they will need more efficient energy and water management. The further push of brackish water onto land causes changes in plant and animal life.

Since 1815, the Netherlands has followed the constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy since 1848. It is described as a consensual state in which politics and governance are distinguished by trying to achieve broad consensus on important issues between political groups and society in the country as a whole. The British Economist magazine ranked the Netherlands in 2010 as the tenth country in the list of the most democratic countries in the world.

The king is the head of state, and he is presently King Philim Alexander. Constitutionally, it has only limited formal powers, but the monarch can exert some political influence during the formation of the new government, as he takes on the task of choosing and appointing a neutral referee to act on his behalf in managing negotiations between the political parties that won the elections to the House of Representatives and reconciling their different views to reach To form a government coalition and conclude what is known in the Netherlands as the government agreement that constitutes the joint government coalition program and the policy that it will implement during its tenure.

In addition, the king, as the head of state (as the title of “King” has no constitutional significance) has the right to be informed of the course of affairs in the country and his consultations in its affairs, and the extent of his influence and political influence depends on the strength of his relations with the ministers so that he can have an impact Beyond the constitutionally granted power. The executive branch consists of the king as head of state, cabinet, and state ministers, who collectively are called government.

In practical terms, it is the Council of Ministers that exercises executive power. The council usually consists of 13 to 16 ministers, and a varying number of state ministers, who are assistant ministers who are not members of the cabinet but who form part of the government, so that the coalition parties share the portfolios of state ministers similar to the portfolios.

The prime minister is the head of government and is often the leader of the largest party in the coalition. The Prime Minister is the first of the counterparts without having explicit powers beyond those granted to other ministers, and therefore he is sometimes known as the Prime Minister. Mark Roteh, leader of the Liberal People's Freedom and Democracy Party, has become Prime Minister since October 2010. The current government consists of a coalition of his party with the Dutch Socialist Labor Party as a junior partner.

The Netherlands is a mono-decentralized country where different territorial units have independent constitutional powers, and the administrative pyramid consists of the central government at the top, county councils in the center, and urban groups (municipalities) at the base of the pyramid. The Netherlands is divided into twelve provinces, each under the administration of a general governor who is called the Commissioner of the King, with the exception of Limburg, which uses the designation of the governor.

These councils carry out matters of less importance and complexity than the central state, but they are greater than the capacity and authority of municipalities such as urban planning, infrastructure, nature conservation, environment, culture, etc. The daily management is assumed by an executive council chaired by the king's commissioner. The district council is elected by the people every four years.

All provinces are divided into municipalities that are administered by local governments through municipal councils, each of which leads the city's mayor, and the total number reaches 403 municipalities. The municipality's tasks include urban development, transportation, education, social welfare and the like. Municipalities obtain some of their financial resources from the central government, others from real estate taxes, parking fees and fines.

The highest body in the municipality is the Municipal Council, whose members are elected by voters residing within the municipality’s borders once every four years. The daily administration of the municipality is supervised by an executive committee consisting of executives who are also members of the municipal council. One of them in the Netherlands is called the governor of law. These executives are appointed by the municipal council and the mayor, and the latter is appointed by royal decree.

The Netherlands has a developed economy that has played a special role in European economies for centuries. It is an economy that is very open and dependent on international trade. The shipping, fishing, trade and banking services sectors have been, and have been, pioneers in the Dutch economy since the 16th century.

The Netherlands is one of the ten largest exporting countries in the world. Food constitutes the largest area of ​​the Dutch industrial sector. Other major industries include chemicals, minerals, machinery, electrical goods and tourism (in 2012 the Netherlands received about 11.7 million international tourists).

Examples of the world's leading Dutch companies in the industrial sectors include: Unilever, Heineken in the food and beverage industries, ENJ Group in financial services, and the property company DSM and Akzo, in the field of chemical industries, and the group of Royal Dutch Shell companies in the petrochemical and refining industries Oil, Philips Corporation, ASML Electronic Machinery, Tom Tom Navigation and Roadmap Network.

Amsterdam is the financial and business capital of the Netherlands. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange is part of Euronext, which is one of the oldest stock markets in the world and is one of the largest in Europe, and is located near Dam Square in the city center. As a founding member of the euro (and for accounting purposes), on January 1, 1999, the Netherlands replaced its previous “guilder” with the European single currency, the euro, as were the 15 euro-zone countries at the time.

This was followed by the introduction of the work in euro banknotes and cash as clearing currencies on January 1, 2002. At that time the euro was equivalent to 2.20371 Dutch guilders. On the Dutch Caribbean islands, they are dealt with in US dollars instead of the euro.

Successive Dutch governments continue to strive to make the Netherlands one of the leading European countries in attracting foreign direct investment. The Netherlands is currently one of the top five largest investors in the United States. Although the Dutch economy witnessed a slowdown in its growth in 2005, it steadily regained its leadership position in 2006 during six years, due to the backdrop of huge investments and increased exports. The pace of job growth reached its highest level in 2007. According to the Global Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report. The Dutch economy is the fifth most competitive economy in the world.

Every year 10 to 11 million foreign tourists visit the Netherlands. Among the most important things that these tourists mean are the historical monuments, urban (delta works), landscapes, places of entertainment, events and festivals sites.

The Dutch cities are the main tourist destinations, especially the capital Amsterdam, which is very popular with foreign tourists thanks to its abundant tourist attractions such as water canals and museums (Anne Frank House Museum, Wax Museum Amsterdam, and the State Museum that contains a number of works of senior Dutch painters) And cafes that sell permitted herbal drugs, especially in the Red de Valen region.

In 2007, Amsterdam was the most popular tourist destination in the Netherlands and the fourth in Europe, and the seventh in the world. The number of visitors in that year reached nearly five million tourists.