NEVO
The NEVO or Nederlandse Verdragsorganisatie (English: Dutch Treaty Organisation) was an intermicronational organisation which was started by Batavia, Flanders and the Netherlands to unite the Dutch sector into one organisation. The Dutch Treaty (full text) was signed on May 19, 2007 in Brussels. NEVO was dissolved in March 2010.
Despite being invited, Brabantia and Novosibirsk declined to partake in the organisation. The Principality of Nederburg was interested, but its forum collapsed before membership could've been applied for. Being part of the Batavian Commonwealth, this application would probably have met the same opposition from the Netherlands and Flanders as did the application from the Grand Duchy of Aragon, which was seen as a way of Batavia to get an extra vote within the alliance.
Goals and achievements
The stated goals of the NEVO were the assurance of peace between the Dutch speaking nations, the creation of a permanent diplomatic dialogue between them, the promotion of cooperation between these continents, helping them recruit new citizens, safeguarding the rights of micronational citizens and organise a yearly intermicronational conference. It was to do this with the adoption of directives (richtlijnen), some by a two thirds majority (mainly pertaining to symbols and the internal workings of the organisation) and some by unanimity (regaring to economic matters, human rights, the exchange of infrastructure, the mutual recognition of university degrees and the promotion of micronationalism).
The status of these directives was quickly in dispute, with some (notably Frans from the Netherlands) considering them to be legally binding by themselves, akin to EU directives, while others (notably Erwin V.H. from Flanders) claiming they were nothing more than treaties in all but in name and needed to be approved by the different national legislatures, pointing out that, if this was not the case, the NEVO founding treaty was unconstitutional in Flanders. This matter was never brought before a national court and the theoretical dispute remained, but in practice each directive went to a ratification process in the different national legislatures.
Whatever may be the case, three directives were passed:
- on intermicronational transactions (December 2007)
- on exchange rates (December 2007)
- on human rights (September 2008)
Criticism and demise
Nevertheless, criticism grew. The set exchange rate was deemed to stating, and severely overvaluating the Netherlands florin. It also failed to undertake anything to attract new micronationalists. Furthermore, the third directive was annulled in the Netherlands in a legal case, whereby the judge ruled that, since there was a contradiction between this directive another provision in the Netherlands' jurisdiction and the Netherlands' constitution didn't provide for a hierarchy of laws, both should be annulled.
To this was added a growing distrust between the member states. A certain scepticism towards Batavia has always been present in Flanders, sometimes serious, sometimes more with humourous intent. But this anti-Batavian sentiment became more pronounced in the Netherlands, were Batavia was seen by Frans as infiltrating the nation, with destructive intent and/or consequences for the nation's existence or at least what Frans saw as the nation's core identity. Additionally, Batavia was accused of an intention to annex New Batavia (including by Flanders), after Constantijn Windsor, member of Batavia's Upper House, openly suggested this (but - according to him - as a private citizen).
But, perhaps equally important, the organisation generated very little activity. Some Batavian politicians also considered that it was useless, as they considerd the Netherlands to be near-death and since they already had a treaty of friendship with Flanders. Momentum agains the organisation grew in all of the member states. Batavia first left the organisation on March 6th, followed by the Netherlands and Flanders on March 22nd
Presidency
The NEVO had a rotating presidency, initially with periodes of four mounths, which later became three months. It was held by
- June-September 2007: Batavia
- October 2007-January 2008: the Virtual United Provinces
- February-May 2008: Flanders
- June-September 2008: Batavia
- September 2008-January 2009: the Netherlands
- February 2009-May 2009: Flanders
- June-August 2009: Batavia
- September-November 2009: the Netherlands
- December 2009-February 2010: Batavia
- March 2010: the Netherlands
References
- The full text of the Dutch Treaty.
- The full text of the directive on human rights.
