A demissionary cabinet () is a type of caretaker cabinet or

provisional government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revoluti ...

in 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 ...

Overview

The Dutch demissionary cabinet continues the current government after a cabinet has ended. This can either be after completion of the full term, between general elections (when the new House of Representatives is installed) and the formation of a new cabinet, or after a

cabinet crisis A cabinet crisis, government crisis or political crisis refers to a situation where an incumbent government is unable to form or function, is toppled through an uprising, or collapses. Political crises may correspond with, cause or be caused by a ...

. In both cases the

prime minister A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

hands in the resignation of his cabinet to the Dutch monarch. The monarch will not accept full resignation until a new cabinet has been formed. Between the moment in which the prime minister hands in the resignation and the monarch installs a new cabinet, the cabinet is labelled demissionary. As a demissionary cabinet is considered a continuation of the previous cabinet, it is not counted as a new cabinet (e.g. Balkenende IV did not become Balkenende V when becoming demissionary). By constitutional convention, a demissionary cabinet has fewer powers than a conventional cabinet. Besides organising elections, the main aim of a demissionary cabinet is to take care of ongoing business until the new cabinet comes into power. Thus, it can only take care of urgent and pressing matters and not initiate controversial legislation. The States General decides which affairs are urgent and pressing, and which are deemed controversial. It is a custom (which is not always followed) that the opinion of minority parties is taken into account for these decisions. However, there is no consensus at this time on what is considered pressing matters, or controversial legislation. A demissionary cabinet is different from an interim cabinet. A demissionary cabinet takes care of policy during

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

and

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 ...

. This is relevant as the formation process can take, in comparative terms, a very long time. An example of a very long-lasting caretaker government was the cabinet Den Uyl between 22 March and 18 December 1977, during the formation of the cabinet Van Agt-I. The first Balkenende Cabinet (2002–2003) had a demissionary phase more than twice as long as its period as a normal cabinet (7 months compared to a mere 3 months). In 2017, a demissionary cabinet kept office between March 15 and October 26 and was allowed by the senate to follow through with its legislative agenda. The third Rutte cabinet held the record for the longest demissionary cabinet in Dutch history, at 225 days. In the case of a cabinet crisis and dissolution, one of these options will apply to the demissionary, or caretaker, cabinet: # The complete cabinet stays in post until a new cabinet is formed (e.g. all the ministers of Netherlands cabinet Kok-2 stayed on as a demissionary cabinet after the fall of the cabinet over Srebrenica). # Part of the cabinet remains in position until a new cabinet is formed (example: only CDA and CU ministers of

Netherlands cabinet Balkenende-4 The fourth Balkenende cabinet was the Executive (government), executive branch of the Politics of the Netherlands, Government of the Netherlands from 22 February 2007 until 14 October 2010. The Cabinet of the Netherlands, cabinet was formed by ...

stayed on as a demissionary cabinet after the resignation of the PvdA ministers over Uruzgan). # An official minority cabinet (without demissionary status) is formed after the dissolution of the cabinet. The main task of this minority cabinet would be organising the elections. It would, however, have more authority in proposing new laws and policies compared to a demissionary cabinet. The new cabinet is seen as a successor rather than the continuation of the fallen cabinet (example Netherlands cabinet Balkenende III followed up on Netherlands cabinet Balkenende II).

References

{{Government of the Netherlands Cabinet of the Netherlands Caretaker governments Politics of the Netherlands

Overview

See also

References