executive branch The Executive, also referred as the Executive branch or Executive power, is the term commonly used to describe that part of government which enforces the law, and has overall responsibility for the governance of a state. In political systems ...

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the ...

grand coalition A grand coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a coalition government. The term is most commonly used in countries where there are ...

majority A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-WebsterHouse of Representatives with Christian Democratic Leader

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010. Balkenende studied ...

serving as

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

.

Labour Leader The ''Labour Leader'' was a British socialist newspaper published for almost one hundred years. It was later renamed ''New Leader'' and ''Socialist Leader'', before finally taking the name ''Labour Leader'' again. 19th century The origins of th ...

Wouter Bos Wouter Jacob Bos (; (born 14 July 1963) is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and businessman. Bos attended the Christian Gymnasium in Zeist from June 1975 until July 1980 and applied at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam i ...

served as

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

and

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

while Social Christian Leader

André Rouvoet André Rouvoet (; born 4 January 1962) is a retired Dutch politician of the Reformatory Political Federation (RPF) party and later the Christian Union (CU) party and jurist. He is the chairman of the executive board of the Healthcare Insuranc ...

served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister without Portfolio for Health, Welfare and Sport. The cabinet served during the unstable late 2000s; domestically it had to deal with the financial crisis of 2008 and major reforms to the education system, while internationally, it had to deal with the

war on terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...

and the government support for the

Task Force Uruzgan Task Force Uruzgan (TFU) was Australia's and the Netherlands' contribution to NATO's Regional Command South, International Security Assistance Force, in Afghanistan. The Dutch led one of the four Provincial Reconstruction Teams in the southern r ...

. The cabinet suffered several major internal conflicts including multiple cabinet resignations. The cabinet fell prematurely on 20 February 2010 after the Labour Party refused to support an extension of the Task Force Uruzgan mission with the Labour Party cabinet members resigning on 23 February 2010, and the cabinet continued in a demissionary capacity until it was replaced after the election of 2010.

Formation

Following the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet on 30 June 2006 the

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a social liberal political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the centre of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal International (LI) and the Alliance of Liberals and Demo ...

(D66) left the coalition and the Christian Democratic Appeal and the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party i ...

(VVD) formed a rump cabinet. The Third Balkenende cabinet was installed on 7 July 2006 and served as a

caretaker government A caretaker government is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it usually consists of either randomly se ...

until the election of 2006 on 22 November 2006. After the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operat ...

the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) of incumbent Prime Minister

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010. Balkenende studied ...

was the winner of the election but lost 3 seats and had now a total of 41 seats. The Labour Party (PvdA) of

Wouter Bos Wouter Jacob Bos (; (born 14 July 1963) is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and businessman. Bos attended the Christian Gymnasium in Zeist from June 1975 until July 1980 and applied at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam i ...

lost 9 seats and had now 33 seats. The

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of ...

(SP) of

Jan Marijnissen Johannes Guillaume Christianus Andreas "Jan" Marijnissen () (born 8 October 1952) is a retired Dutch politician of the Socialist Party (SP). Marijnissen, a welder by occupation, was selected as Leader of the Socialist Party after the death of ...

was the biggest winner with 16 new seats and had now 25 seats. Two new parties won representation in the House of Representatives, the recently founded

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( nl, Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of Representatives, it won nin ...

(PVV) of

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'' ...

, a former Member of the House of Representatives for the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party i ...

won nine seats and the

Party for the Animals The Party for the Animals ( nl, Partij voor de Dieren; PvdD) is a political party in the Netherlands. Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare. Since 2019, the PvdD's political leader is Esther Ouwehand. With 3.8% of the votes ...

(PvdD) of

Marianne Thieme Marianne Louise Thieme (, born 6 March 1972) is a Dutch politician, author and animal rights activist. A jurist by education, she served as the Party for the Animals' political leader from 2002 to 2019 and a member of the House of Representatives ...

, a noted

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the s ...

activist won two seats, the first time an animal advocacy party won representation in a national legislative body. On 25 November 2006 Queen Beatrix appointed Member of the Council of State

Rein Jan Hoekstra Rein Jan Hoekstra (born 1941) was born in Dokkum. He graduated from the University of Groningen in 1965, majoring in Law. He has since worked as an attorney (1965–1970), Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers in 1983, and Secretary Gener ...

(CDA) as Informateur. Hoekstra explored the possibilities for the different three party coalitions, since no two parties could form a majority in the House of Representatives together. This resulted in a coalition agreement between the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), Labour Party (PvdA) and the Christian Union (CU), together these three parties had 79 seats out of 150 seats in the House of Representatives. On 20 December 2006 Queen Beatrix appointed former Chairman of the Social-Economic Council Herman Wijffels (CDA) as Informateur to start the second information round and negotiate a coalition agreement between the Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010. Balkenende studied ...

, the Leader of the Labour Party

Wouter Bos Wouter Jacob Bos (; (born 14 July 1963) is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and businessman. Bos attended the Christian Gymnasium in Zeist from June 1975 until July 1980 and applied at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam i ...

and the Leader of the Christian Union

André Rouvoet André Rouvoet (; born 4 January 1962) is a retired Dutch politician of the Reformatory Political Federation (RPF) party and later the Christian Union (CU) party and jurist. He is the chairman of the executive board of the Healthcare Insuranc ...

. On 7 February 2007 a coalition was reached with the motto of the agreement: ''"Samen leven, samen werken"'' ("Living together, working together"). On 9 February 2007 Queen Beatrix appointed incumbent Prime Minister

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010. Balkenende studied ...

(CDA) as

Formateur A formateur (French for "someone who forms, who constitutes") is a politician who is appointed to lead the formation of a coalition government, after either a general election or the collapse of a previous government. The role of the formateur ...

to start the last phase of the formation. On 22 February the cabinet members were sworn in by Queen Beatrix.

Term

Policy

The coalition agreement titled "Living together, working together" was presented on 7 February in a press conference by Balkenende, Bos, Rouvoet. It is structured into six commitments of the new cabinet. If a proposal was included in a party's electoral manifesto, this is mentioned as well. * An active and constructive role in the world, which is characterized by these policies: ** Continued investments into the Joint Strike Fighter (as the CDA proposed). ** The new cabinet is not in favour of a new referendum on the European Constitution, which was voted down in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

, but will consider new initiatives (both the CDA and CU opposed the referendum initially). * An innovative, competitive and entrepreneurial economy, which is characterized by these policies: ** 1 billion increased spending on education (as all parties proposed). **

Privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of Schiphol airport is shelved (as the CU and the PvdA proposed). * A durable environment, which is characterized by these policies: ** 800 million euros additional spending on

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

(as both the PvdA and the CU proposed). ** Pollution will be taxed more heavily (as both the PvdA and the CU proposed). ** A tax on airline tickets totalling 350 million euros (as all parties proposed). ** No new investments in nuclear energy (as the CU and the PvdA proposed). * Social cohesion, which is characterized by these policies: ** A reform of the system of basic state pensions: people who have private pensions of 15,000 euros and higher and who stop working before the age of 65 will pay an additional tax as of 2011. People who work beyond 65 receive tax breaks. This measure should guarantee an affordable basic

state pension A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payment ...

(AOW) despite trends in

population ageing Population ageing is an increasing median age in a population because of declining fertility rates and rising life expectancy. Most countries have rising life expectancy and an ageing population, trends that emerged first in developed countries ...

(a compromise between the PvdA, which wanted to tax all rich elderly and the CDA which wanted incentives to make people work longer). ** Public social housing will not be liberalised, rent rates may be raised only in line with inflation (as the PvdA proposed). ** The tax deduction on mortgage interest payments remains unchanged (as the CDA proposed). ** Investments in problem areas in the large cities to make them "beautiful neighbourhoods" (as the PvdA proposed). ** Re-implementation of the subsidized jobs-scheme for the unemployed (as the PvdA proposed). ** Childcare spending totalling 700 million euros (free child care was a PvdA election promise and opposed by CDA). * Safety, stability and respect, which is characterized by these policies: ** Reduction of all crimes by 25%. ** A ban on

burqa A burqa or a burka, or , and ur, , it is also transliterated as burkha, bourkha, burqua or burqu' or borgha' and is pronounced natively . It is generally pronounced in the local variety of Arabic or variety of Persian, which varies. Examp ...

s and other face covering clothing for security reasons (as the CDA proposed). * Government and a servile public sector ** In response to opposition to extravagant wages earned by some top civil servants and top level managers of

quango A quango or QUANGO (less often QuANGO or QANGO) is an organisation to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies. The term was originally a shortening of "quasi-NGO", where N ...

s, sometimes five times that of the prime minister, no one will be allowed an income greater than the prime minister's. To accomplish this, the prime minister's salary will be increased. ** Cutting the number of civil servants to save 750 million euros. ** Women seeking an

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

are to expect an additional waiting period between first consultation and actual procedure on top of the already mandatory five days waiting period (as the CU proposed). ** Minor reforms of the health care-system, including the abolishment of the ''no claim'' and the re-inclusion of dental care into the basic insurance. ** Increased taxation on cigarettes and

liquor Liquor (or a spirit) is an alcoholic drink produced by distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar, that have already gone through alcoholic fermentation. Other terms for liquor include: spirit drink, distilled beverage or h ...

, smoke-free bars and restaurants by 2011. ** A general pardon for asylum seekers who entered the Netherlands before the new Asylum Law came into effect (as both the CU and the PvdA proposed). ** The coalition wants to have a budget surplus of 1% of the GDP by 2011 with a projected 2% annual economic growth (as all parties proposed).

Fall and aftermath

In February 2010,

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

had officially requested the Netherlands to extend its military involvement in

Task Force Uruzgan Task Force Uruzgan (TFU) was Australia's and the Netherlands' contribution to NATO's Regional Command South, International Security Assistance Force, in Afghanistan. The Dutch led one of the four Provincial Reconstruction Teams in the southern r ...

, the ISAF operation in the Afghan province of Uruzgan, aimed at training Afghan security forces and transfer of responsibilities to the local authorities. Coalition party PvdA strongly opposed the extension of the mission. The collision between the government and the parliament, of which the majority disagreed with an extension of the mission, as well as between the coalition partners in the cabinet, threatened the existence of the cabinet and led to its fall in the night between 19 and 20 February 2010, after 16 hours of deliberations between the cabinet members. The Labour members resigned from the cabinet. As queen Beatrix was on holiday in Austria ( Lech am Arlberg) at the time, Balkenende informed her formally by phone about the break-up of the cabinet. She returned soon to The Hague and held consultations with advisors and with the leaders of all political groupings in parliament on 22 and 23 February. On the latter day, the queen accepted the resignations of the PvdA ministers and secretaries, and maintained the 15 remaining cabinet members of CDA and Christian Union (whose positions had also been offered to the queen for consideration, a customary procedure in the Netherlands) to run a demissionary cabinet (

caretaker government A caretaker government is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it usually consists of either randomly se ...

), which meant that it could not make large decisions or proposals on topics deemed controversial. No new cabinet members were appointed, the already functioning ministers and state secretaries taking care of the empty positions until a new government would be formed. Early elections were held on 9 June 2010. The

cabinet formation Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

started a day later. Labour leader Wouter Bos, who resigned as deputy prime minister and finance minister, announced that he wanted to continue to lead his party. Labour Party leader Bos denied that the upcoming local elections in the Netherlands played a role in the decision to refuse to compromise on a possible extension of the Dutch military mission in Afghanistan."Bos denies decision influenced by March poll"
/ref> Flickr - europeanpeoplesparty - EPP Summit 24 March 2007 (1)

Flickr - europeanpeoplesparty - EPP Summit 24 March 2007 (1)

Flickr - europeanpeoplesparty - EPP Congress Warsaw (990)

Dmitry Medvedev in the United States 14 April 2010-6

Flickr - europeanpeoplesparty - EPP Summit June 2010 (8)

Cabinet members

: : : : : : : :

Trivia

* Six cabinet members had previous experience as scholars and professors:

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010. Balkenende studied ...

(Christian Theology),

Guusje ter Horst Guus "Guusje" ter Horst (born 22 March 1952) is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and psychologist. She is a member of the supervisory board of Royal Dutch Shell since 1 January 2013 and chairwoman of the supervisory board of ...

(Dental Medicine), Ernst Hirsch Ballin (Constitutional and Administrative Law),

Ronald Plasterk Ronald Hans Anton Plasterk (; born 12 April 1957) is a Dutch scientist, entrepreneur and retired politician of the Labour Party (PvdA). He has earned a PhD degree in biology, specialised in molecular genetics. Being a former Minister of the Du ...

(Molecular Genetics), Jacqueline Cramer (Environmental Studies) and

Jet Bussemaker Mariëtte "Jet" Bussemaker (born 15 January 1961) is a retired Dutch politician. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), she served as Minister of Education, Culture and Science from 5 November 2012 to 26 October 2017 in the Second Rutte cabinet. ...

(Political Science). * Seven cabinet members (later) served as Mayor: Guusje ter Horst (Nijmegen),

Eberhard van der Laan Eberhard Edzard van der Laan (; 28 June 1955 – 5 October 2017) was a Dutch politician who served as Minister for Housing, Communities and Integration from 2008 to 2010 and Mayor of Amsterdam from 2010 until his death in 2017. He was a member ...

(Amsterdam),

Ank Bijleveld Anna Theodora Bernardina "Ank" Bijleveld-Schouten (born 17 March 1962) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) who has been serving as acting mayor of Almere since 10 January 2022. She served as Minister of Defence in the ...

(Hof van Twente),

Cees van der Knaap Cornelis (Cees) van der Knaap (born 27 January 1951, in Bennekom) is a Dutch politician. He was State Secretary for Defence for the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). Biography After attending a MULO school, Van der Knaap worked for Vroom ...

(Ede),

Ahmed Aboutaleb Ahmed Aboutaleb ( ar, أحمد أبو طالب; born 29 August 1961) is a Dutch politician of Moroccan origin, he is of the Labour Party (PvdA) and a journalist. He has been the Mayor of Rotterdam since 5 January 2009. Early life and career ...

(Rotterdam), Jetta Klijnsma (The Hague) and

Marja van Bijsterveldt Janneke Marlene "Marja" van Bijsterveldt-Vliegenthart (born 27 June 1961) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). She has been mayor of Delft since 2 September 2016. Early life Van Bijsterveldt attended nursing school ...

(Schipluiden and Delft). * Ten cabinet members would later have other high-profile work, in the public sector:

Wouter Bos Wouter Jacob Bos (; (born 14 July 1963) is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and businessman. Bos attended the Christian Gymnasium in Zeist from June 1975 until July 1980 and applied at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam i ...

(Dutch Investment Agency),

André Rouvoet André Rouvoet (; born 4 January 1962) is a retired Dutch politician of the Reformatory Political Federation (RPF) party and later the Christian Union (CU) party and jurist. He is the chairman of the executive board of the Healthcare Insuranc ...

(Healthcare Insurance association) and Maxime Verhagen (Construction association), in the private sector: Jan Kees de Jager (KPN) and

Ab Klink Abraham "Ab" Klink (born 2 November 1958) is a retired Dutch politician of Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and sociologist. He is a corporate director of the VGZ Cooperative since 1 January 2014 and a professor at the Vrije Universiteit Amster ...

(VGZ Cooperative), and international functions:

Maria van der Hoeven Maria Josephina Arnoldina van der Hoeven (born 13 September 1949) is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and nonprofit director. Van der Hoeven attended a Lyceum in Maastricht from April 1966 until May 1969 ...

(International Energy Agency), Gerda Verburg (Food and Agriculture Organization), Bert Koenders (United Nations),

Frans Timmermans Frans is an Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish given name, sometimes as a short form of ''François''. One cognate of Frans in English is '' Francis''. Given name * Frans van Aarssens (1572–1641), Dutch diplo ...

(European Commission) and Frank Heemskerk (World Bank Group).

References

External links

;Official *
Kabinet-Balkenende IV
Parlement & Politiek *
Kabinet-Balkenende IV
Rijksoverheid {{DEFAULTSORT:Balkenende cabinet, Fourth Cabinets of the Netherlands 2007 establishments in the Netherlands 2010 disestablishments in the Netherlands Cabinets disestablished in 2010 Cabinets established in 2007 Grand coalition governments