The Association of Provinces of the Netherlands (; IPO) is the association of the twelve

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. The association looks after provincial interests and forms a platform for exchanging knowledge and experience among the twelve Dutch provinces. The IPO also stimulates and takes the initiative in reform programmes. The executive of the IPO consists of thirteen members, made up of one from each province (who can be a member of that province's '' Gedeputeerde Staten'', or its

King's Commissioner A King's commissioner (, ''CvdK'') is the head of government and legislature in a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands. When the List of monarchs of the Netherlands, reigning monarch is a woman, the title is Queen's commission ...

) plus a

chairperson The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

. The chair is vacant. The IPO's general assembly is made up of twenty-four members of the

States-Provincial The provincial council (, PS), also known as the States-Provincial, is the provincial parliament and legislative assembly in each of the provinces of the Netherlands. It is elected for each province simultaneously once every four years and has ...

(2 from each province). The office of the IPO presents provincial interests through relations with the central government, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, the

Association of Netherlands Municipalities The Association of Netherlands Municipalities ( or VNG) was established in 1912 by 28 Dutch cities, at a time when the number of tasks delegated to Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipalities saw a rapid increase. As a result of this increas ...

, the Unie van Waterschappen, the National Civil Pension Fund and with social organizations.

External links

Official website
Dutch political institutions Local government organizations Council of European Municipalities and Regions Local government in the Netherlands {{Netherlands-poli-stub

See also

External links