The Caribbean Netherlands (Dutch: Caribisch Nederland) refers to a group of three special municipalities of the Netherlands (officially public bodies) that are located in the Caribbean Sea: the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba,[a 1] which are also known as the BES islands. Although they are part of the Netherlands, these special municipalities will remain overseas territories[3] of the European Union at least until 2015.[4] Bonaire (including the islet of Klein Bonaire) is located east of Aruba and Curaçao, close to the coast of Venezuela. Sint Eustatius and Saba are located south of Sint Maarten and northwest of Saint Kitts and Nevis.