Netherlands cabinet Balkenende-1

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Netherlands

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The first cabinet of Jan Peter Balkenende was in office in the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 until 16 October of the same year. The term of 87 days (counting the first and last days in full and excluding its "caretaker" function that continued for months afterwards) was the shortest since the fifth cabinet of Hendrikus Colijn (25 July 1939 - 10 August 1939).

Following the 15 May 2002 elections, the division of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives (lower house) was:

On 17 May Queen Beatrix appointed Piet Hein Donner, a CDA member of the Raad van State as "informer", to investigate the possibilities for a new government. A coalition between CDA, LPF and VVD was established relatively quickly, despite some initial resistance by the VVD. By 4 July a detailed coalition agreement had been drawn up and the Queen appointed Jan Peter Balkenende, the lijsttrekker for the CDA, to form a new cabinet. The cabinet was named on 16 July and was sworn in on 22 July. The cabinet Balkenende-1 comprised 14 ministers and 14 state secretaries, with each post allocated to one of the coalition parties. Each of the ministers headed a department, with the exception of one "minister without a portfolio" to deal with "foreigners policy and integration", accommodated by the Ministry of Justice.

[edit] Incidents and Scandals

The First Balkenende Cabinet was very unstable from the beginning. Elections had been held in the very recent aftermath of the assassination of Pim Fortuyn, the leader of the newly established LPF. Emotions in the Netherlands, a country where the last political assassination had taken place in 1584 with the murder of Prince William of Orange, had run very high. The LPF was catapulted into enormous wins and the party proved unprepared for cabinet participation. Personality conflicts and the general inexperience of LPF cabinet members led to the rapid implosion of the cabinet. After the ensuing new elections, the LPF lost two-thirds of its seats in the House of Representatives and the party has since been disbanded on a national level.

[edit] Resignation of Undersecretary Bijlhout

The first scandal in the new government came only nine ours after it took office. Philomena Bijlhout, the staatssecretaris (Undersecretary) for Social Affairs and Work Opportunity appointed by the LPF, resigned after evidence was presented that she had been a member of a militia of Surinamese military coup leader Dési Bouterse in 1982 and 1983, during the period when the militia had committed the political murders known as the "December Murders."

[edit] Power Struggles within the LPF and the Resignation of the Cabinet

In the months following the election, the LPF was beset by power struggles between various factions. A big incident was when minister Nawijn declared to be in favour of the death penalty. The cabinet was officially opposed to the death penalty. Nawijn responded that he made his remark as leader of the LPF. The party in its turn declared that it was opposed to the death penalty. Nawijn was highly criticised when he declared that it was a personal remark, because it was normal that a minister in a coalition cabinet could make remarks as political party member outside his ministerial responsibility.

A huge incident between ministers of the LPF, Bomhoff and Heinsbroek led to the resignation of the cabinet. A bell used by Vice-Prime Minister Bomhoff to indicate he wanted to speak during cabinet meetings annoyed Minister Heinsbroek and a row ensued which dragged on for several weeks. The other LPF ministers decided not to support Bomhoff and Heinsbroek anymore. They made this decision during the funeral of Prince-Consort Claus von Amsberg, who had died on 6 October 2002. Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm was so outraged at their breach of decorum during a royal funeral that he demanded new elections. He no longer wanted to be in a government with the LPF. Meetings with the Queen did not take place until the week after the resignation, since she had travelled to Italy immediately after the funeral. On 21 October she accepted the resignation and new elections were called for 22 January 2003. The cabinet remained in place as a "caretaker" administration, without Bomhoff and Heinsbroek, until the elections and formation of a new cabinet.

On 12 December 2002, Benk Korthals resigned as caretaker Minister of Defence after a commission of inquiry into building industry fraud accused him of giving false information to the Lower House during the previous cabinet. After resigning he said he still denied the allegations.

[edit] Cabinet actions

• Revoked a planned ban on mink farming initiated by the previous cabinet^[1]
• Approved an expansion of the European Union.
• Support for the United States in its plan to invade Iraq.
• Cuts to a subsidised jobs scheme of Ad Melkert, the Melkertbanen.
• Reorganisation of defence (and budget cuts?) involving 4800 job losses ^[2]
• Reduction of spending on public transport of 39 million euros in 2003 (originally to be 60 million) ^[3]
• Cuts to the budgets of most government departments, but with increased spending in some areas.

[edit] Ministers

[edit] Staatssecretaris

(*) Alternative title that can be used outside the Netherlands.

[edit] Sources

• http://www.volkskrant.nl/1026900268305.html
• http://www.minaz.nl/ministerraad/kabinet_1945/index.html
• The report of Balkenende to the Queen from http://www.minaz.nl/kabinetsformatie/

[edit] See also

• Pim Fortuyn List (covers reasons for breakup in detail)

[edit] References