The Kingdom of the Netherlands is closing its consulate general in Antwerp. The City of Antwerp government has written the Dutch a letter expressing their sorrow and regret. The decision was first made public in 2013.

The Dutch mission was the oldest consulate general in the city, Het Nieuwsblad writes. But I can’t find a date. 

The Antwerp city council regrets this decision and also expresses this in a letter to Dutch Prime Minister Dirk Schoof, Minister of Foreign Affairs Caspar Veldkamp (NSC) and Brechje Schwachöfer, Ambassador to Belgium. 

The closure of the consulate-general is part of a cost-saving operation by the Dutch government. Embassies and consulates general are also being closed in other places.

Acting Mayor of Antwerp Els van Doesburg (N-VA) stated in a collegial letter that she regretted the decision and that she hoped that the good relations between the Netherlands and Antwerp could be maintained even without official representation.

“We naturally regret this decision very much, as we find the proximity of the diplomatic and economic representation of our neighbouring country in our city very valuable,” the letter states according to the newspaper.

The Antwerp city council hopes for continued good contacts and cooperation with the Dutch embassy in Brussels.

“We hope to be able to expand this periodically, with mutual respect and without detracting from the uniqueness of the ties that have been built up over the years. After all, it would be a loss if the cooperation on an economic, cultural and social level were to be reduced or clouded as a result”, the letter from the Antwerp city council states.

“Should the Kingdom of the Netherlands consider a renewed presence in Antwerp in the future, we will welcome it with open arms and regard it as a privileged partne”, the city council states.

An embassy is the official representation of another country, while a consulate is more focused on practical matters. Furthermore, the Dutch consulate general was engaged in economic diplomacy in Antwerp and Limburg with a focus on cooperation in the energy and logistics-transport sector.

Location?

There are some question marks. According to Het Nieuwsblad and the Dutch official Rijksoverheid website, the consulate general is located at Eiermarkt. But a newsitem of 2021 says Grote Markt. And Google says Uitbreidingstraat in Berchem.

I found a sign at Eiermarkt.

No consular work

Also, the Dutch consulate general didn’t seem to do much consular work. “The Consulate General in Antwerp does not have a consular section”, Rijksoverheid says. 

Usually a consulate (general) does exactly that. What is consular work? 

Consular work refers to the services provided by a country’s consulate or consular office in a foreign country, aimed at assisting its citizens and supporting national interests abroad. It is a branch of diplomacy that focuses on practical, day-to-day matters rather than political negotiations.

Consular duties typically involve helping citizens by issuing or renewing passports, assisting those who are arrested, hospitalized, missing, or otherwise in trouble abroad, and providing support during emergencies such as natural disasters. Consulates also process visa applications for foreign nationals who wish to travel to the consulate’s home country for purposes like tourism, study, or work.

In addition, consular offices offer notarial services such as certifying documents, witnessing signatures, and issuing certificates of life, which may be required for matters like pension collection. They also advise citizens on local laws and assist with legal or administrative issues, including registering marriages or births abroad.

While primarily focused on citizen services and administrative matters, consulates sometimes contribute to promoting economic and cultural ties by supporting business relationships, trade, tourism, and cultural exchanges.

In short, while embassies are mainly concerned with high-level political relations, consulates are more involved in assisting individuals and managing travel and administrative affairs.

The Consulate General of the Netherlands in Antwerp

“The consulate general focuses primarily on economic diplomacy in the provinces of Antwerp and Limburg, with special attention to promoting Flemish-Dutch cooperation in the field of two top sectors: Energy and Logistics & Transport (L&T). Port cooperation is a common thread throughout”, the Dutch Embassy to Belgium says.

“Energy: we focus on cooperation and market opportunities offered by the energy transition, in particular in the areas of hydrogen, offshore wind (WoZ), electrification and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS).”

“L&T: we do the same in the field of sustainable, innovative solutions for infrastructure construction and (multimodal) transport.”

So there it still looks very open. Consul General Karen van Stegeren still has her bio up. 

The Dutchness of Antwerp

When Els van Doesburg took office as acting mayor of Antwerp, she made history — not simply by assuming the city’s highest position, but by being the first to do so who was born in the Netherlands. Yet, for Antwerp, a city long entwined with its northern neighbour, her appointment seems less an exception than a continuation of a centuries-old relationship.

Van Doesburg’s personal journey mirrors that connection. Born in Soest, near Utrecht, she moved to Schilde near Antwerp at the age of ten, settling in what she herself once called “a real Dutch colony”. Educated in Westmalle and at the University of Antwerp, she stayed on after her studies, eventually rising through the ranks of the nationalist N-VA party.

A million Dutch tourists and 20,000 Dutch residents

She now governs a city where the Dutch presence is not merely historic but strikingly current. Last year, more than seven million Dutch tourists came to Antwerp on day trips, with another million spending the night. More tellingly, some 20,000 Dutch nationals have made Antwerp their permanent home — more than any other foreign nationality in the city.

Antwerp’s bond with the Netherlands, however, predates modern tourism by centuries. On the Meir, today one of Antwerp’s busiest shopping streets, stands the Palace on the Meir. 

Few shoppers realise that, in the early nineteenth century, it belonged to King William I of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was he who commissioned the ‘Hall of the Seventeen Provinces‘, a grand room adorned with scenes of Dutch history. 

But history had other plans: completed in the summer of 1830, the salon never hosted a royal reception. Within weeks, the Belgian Revolution had broken out, and William’s dream of a united Low Countries collapsed.

Antwerp became a battleground. Fighting raged through the streets, culminating in Dutch bombardments from the Scheldt. Though the Dutch army clung to Antwerp’s citadel for two more years, their departure in 1832 marked the final break. And yet, for many in Antwerp, severance from the Netherlands was not cause for celebration.

The city remained a stronghold of Orangism — the movement favouring reunion with the North. Among the wealthy bourgeoisie, in particular, economic hardship following the revolution stoked nostalgia. 

The port, once the pride of the Low Countries, was strangled when the Netherlands closed the Scheldt to navigation. Families like the Cogels, wealthy bankers and landowners, were prominent Orangists. Their legacy still colours Antwerp’s landscape: the Cogels-Osylei in Zurenborg, a parade of neo-styled mansions, stands as a quiet monument to a lost Dutch connection.

Early Antwerp Orangism was more economic than linguistic. Many of its champions were French-speaking elites. Only later, as the Flemish Movement grew, did Orangism take on a cultural dimension, celebrating a shared Dutch-language identity. 

In 1905, during Belgium’s 75th independence celebrations, Antwerp notably hosted alternative festivities, highlighting its Dutch ties rather than Belgian patriotism.

Education, too, was shaped by the northern influence. For much of the nineteenth century, Antwerp’s city schools used textbooks from the Netherlands. Florent van Ertborn, an ardent Orangist and mayor during the time of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, introduced Dutch as the administrative language and founded the city’s first municipal school. Refusing to serve after independence, he instead slipped into historical memory — his name today surviving only in a station district street.

Present-day remnants

Antwerp’s political leaders have often found themselves navigating this historical current. Bart De Wever (N-VA), the city’s titular mayor and current Belgian Prime Minister, has spoken warmly of the Greater Netherlands idea, imagining a political union of Dutch-speaking peoples. Hosting then-Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) in 2021, De Wever remarked: “If only we were still one country.”

The historical undercurrents run even deeper. After the Fall of Antwerp in 1585, many Antwerpians fled north, helping to fuel the Dutch Golden Age. Among them was Filips van Marnix van Sint-Aldegonde, mayor of Antwerp and confidant of William of Orange. 

For centuries, Marnix was believed to have authored the ‘Wilhelmus‘, the Dutch national anthem — a belief so persistent that, even today, Dutch officialdom often still credits him, despite recent linguistic research suggesting otherwise.

Inside Antwerp’s City Hall, the Dutch presence is quite literally in the windows. In 1964, the city’s Dutch community donated stained glass panels depicting Queen Juliana and William of Orange.