the special municipalities of bonaire, sint eustatius, and saba (referred to as caribbean netherlands or "bes islands") are part of the netherlands proper but are not part of any province. they resemble ordinary dutch municipalities in most ways (with a mayor, aldermen, and a municipal council, for example) and are subject to the ordinary dutch legislative process. residents of these three islands are also able to vote in dutch national and european elections. there are, however, some derogations for these islands. social security, for example, is not on the same level as it is in the netherlands proper. in november 2008 it was decided to introduce the u.s. dollar in the three islands. the date of introduction was 1 january 2011. the netherlands carries the risk of exchange rate fluctuations regarding cash flows between the state and the islands.