The first Van Agt cabinet, also called the Van Agt–Wiegel cabinet, was the

executive branch The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...

of the

Dutch Government The Netherlands is a parliamentary representative democracy. A constitutional monarchy, the country is organised as a decentralised unitary state.''Civil service systems in Western Europe'' edited by A. J. G. M. Bekke, Frits M. Meer, Edward E ...

from 19 December 1977 until 11 September 1981. The cabinet was formed by the

christian-democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( , CDA) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in the Netherlands. Formed as a federation in 1975 by the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary Party, and the Christian Historical ...

(CDA) and the conservative-liberal

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( , VVD) is a Conservative liberalism, conservative-liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party (Netherl ...

(VVD) after the election of 1977. The cabinet was a centre-right coalition and had a slim

majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...

in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

with Christian Democratic Leader

Dries van Agt Andreas Antonius Maria "Dries" van Agt (; 2 February 1931 – 5 February 2024) was a Dutch politician, jurist and diplomat who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 19 December 1977 until 4 November 1982. He was a prominent leader o ...

serving as

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 ...

. Liberal Leader

Hans Wiegel Hans Wiegel (; 16 July 1941 – 19 May 2025) was a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businessman. Wiegel studied Law at the University of Amsterdam before switching to Political science obtaining a Bache ...

served as

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

and

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

. The cabinet served in the final years of the

radical Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

1970s and the early years of the

economic expansion An economic expansion is an upturn in the level of economic activity and of the goods and services available. It is a finite period of growth, often measured by a rise in real GDP, that marks a reversal from a previous period, for example, whi ...

of the 1980s. Domestically it had to deal with the last days of the

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...

, the abdication of

Queen Juliana Juliana (; Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina; 30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004) was List of monarchs of the Netherlands, Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 until her abdication in 1980. Juliana was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Duke ...

and the installation of

Queen Beatrix Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 30 April 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix was born during the reign of her maternal gr ...

, and a growing inflation following the recession in the 1980s; but it was able to implement several major social reforms to the

public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both public services and public enterprises. Public sectors include the public goods and governmental services such as the military, law enforcement, pu ...

and civil reforms and stimulating

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

and

privatization Privatization (rendered 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 w ...

. Internationally it had to deal with the

1979 oil crisis A drop in oil production in the wake of the Iranian revolution led to an energy crisis in 1979. Although the global oil supply only decreased by approximately four percent, the oil markets' reaction raised the price of crude oil drastically ...

and the fallout of the increasing international stand against

Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

in South Africa. The cabinet suffered several major internal and external conflicts including multiple cabinet resignations, including a informal

caucus A caucus is a group or meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to ...

of several Christian Democrats in the House of Representatives that only supported the cabinet in a

confidence and supply In parliamentary system, parliamentary democracies based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply is an arrangement under which a minority government (one which does not control a majority in the legislature) receives the support of one ...

construction, but it was able to complete its entire term and was succeeded by the Second Van Agt cabinet following the election of 1981.Wiegel houdt belofte van terugkeer levend
Trouw, 24 February 2005

Formation

After the 1977 general election the Labour Party (PvdA) of incumbent Prime Minister

Joop den Uyl Johannes Marten den Uijl (9 August 1919 – 24 December 1987), better known as Joop den Uyl (), was a Dutch politician and economist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1973 to 1977. He was a member of the Labour Party (PvdA ...

was the winner of the election which won ten new seats and had now a total of 53 seats. The

(VVD) of

won six seats and had now 28 seats. The

Anti-Revolutionary Party The Anti-Revolutionary Party (, ARP) was a Protestant conservative and Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1879 by Abraham Kuyper, a neo-Calvinist theologian and minister who served as Prime Mi ...

(ARP),

Catholic People's Party The Catholic People's Party (, KVP) was a Roman Catholicism in the Netherlands, Catholic Christian democracy, Christian democratic list of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1945 as ...

(KVP) and the

Christian Historical Union The Christian Historical Union (, CHU) was a Protestant Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The CHU is one of the predecessors of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), into which it merged in September 1980. History 187 ...

(CHU) participated for the first time as the combined party

(CDA) with

as its new

Leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

. This

electoral fusion Electoral fusion in the United States is an arrangement where two or more United States political parties on a ballot list the same candidate, allowing that candidate to receive votes on multiple party lines in the same election. Electoral fus ...

resulted in one new seat and now had a total of 49 seats in the

. A long negotiation between the Labour Party and

followed. Both parties had come out of the elections as equal partners. The negotiations were troubled by the personal animosity between incumbent

and Leader of the Labour Party

and the

Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal The Party leader, Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal is the most senior politician within the Christian Democratic Appeal (, CDA) in the Netherlands.The current leader has been Henri Bontenbal since 14 August 2023. History The leaders o ...

. Van Agt who served as

under Den Uyl his cabinet had a bad working relationship. In the end Van Agt found that the demands of the Den Uyl were too great and instead he formed a coalition with the

Term

The cabinet had to deal with a major economic depression, but refused to cut government spending due to fierce left-wing opposition in the parliament, which had nearly half of the seats. Many left-wing demonstrations were held on the street against the government. Notorious were the harsh demonstrations in Amsterdam during the crowning of

and the squatting riots. There was a sharp increase in unemployment and the government was seen to have created too much debt.

Changes

On 5 March 1978

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

Roelof Kruisinga (CHU) resigned in-protest after the cabinet decided to not publicly condemn the United States for further developing the

Neutron bomb A neutron bomb, officially defined as a type of enhanced radiation weapon (ERW), is a low-yield thermonuclear weapon designed to maximize lethal neutron radiation in the immediate vicinity of the blast while minimizing the physical power of the b ...

Minister for Development Cooperation The Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Aid () is a Minister without Portfolio (Netherlands), minister without portfolio in the Netherlands. The officeholder, who is a member of the Cabinet of the Netherlands, Cabinet and the Council of M ...

Jan de Koning (ARP) served as acting

until 8 March 1978 when Member of the Council of State Willem Scholten (CHU) was appointed as his successor. On 1 April 1979 Minister for Science Policy Rinus Peijnenburg (KVP) unexpectedly died from a heart attack at the age of 51. Minister of Health and Environment Leendert Ginjaar (VVD) served as acting Minister for Science Policy until 3 May 1979 when Ton van Trier, who until then had been working as a professor of

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

at the

Eindhoven University of Technology The Eindhoven University of Technology (), Abbreviation, abbr. TU/e, is a public university, public technical university in the Netherlands, situated in Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its Bachelor of Science, BS ...

was installed as his successor. Ton van Trier an Independent Christian Democrat joined the

that same month. On 22 February 1980

Minister of Finance A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...

Frans Andriessen Franciscus Henricus Johannes Joseph "Frans" Andriessen (2 April 1929 – 22 March 2019) was a Dutch politician of the Catholic People's Party (KVP) and later the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and businessperson who served as List of Europ ...

(KVP) resigned after disagreeing with the cabinets decision to not implement a stronger austerity policy. State Secretary for Finance Ad Nooteboom (CHU) declares his solidarity with

and also resigned that same day. Minister of Economic Affairs Gijs van Aardenne (VVD) served as acting

until 5 March 1980 when

Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom cabinet position, responsible for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The post was originally named President of the Board of Agriculture and was created in 1889 ...

Fons van der Stee (KVP) was appointed as

. That same day Member of the House of Representatives

Gerrit Braks Gerardus Johannes Maria "Gerrit" Braks (23 May 1933 – 12 July 2017) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) and later the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and agronomist. Braks applied at the Wageningen Ag ...

(KVP) was installed as

. On 16 April 1980 Member of the House of Representatives Marius van Amelsvoort (KVP) was appointed as State Secretary for Finance. On 25 August 1980

Willem Scholten (CHU) resigned after he was appointed Vice-President of the Council of State. That same day former

naval officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent ...

Pieter de Geus (CHU), who until then had been working as a top official at the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

was appointed as his successor. On 1 September 1981 ten days before the new cabinet took office Minister for Housing and Spatial Planning Pieter Beelaerts van Blokland (CDA) resigned after he had been appointed Mayor of Apeldoorn. Minister of Transport and Water Management Dany Tuijnman (VVD) took over the position until the new cabinet was installed on 11 September 1981.

Cabinet members

: : : : : : : : :

References

External links

;Official *
Kabinet-Van Agt I
Parlement & Politiek *
Kabinet-Van Agt I
Rijksoverheid {{DEFAULTSORT:Agt cabinet, First Van Cabinets of the Netherlands 1977 establishments in the Netherlands 1981 disestablishments in the Netherlands Cabinets established in 1977 Cabinets disestablished in 1981