Third Balkenende cabinet

Third Balkenende cabinet
Third Balkenende cabinet
; 66th Cabinet of the Netherlands
	The installation of the third Balkenende cabinet on 7 July 2006
Date formed	7 July 2006
Date dissolved	22 February 2007 ; 230 days in office ; (Demissionary from 22 November 2006)
People and organisations
Monarch	Queen Beatrix
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende
Deputy Prime Minister	Gerrit Zalm
No. of ministers	16
Ministers removed	2
Total no. of members	18
Member party	Christian Democratic Appeal ; (CDA) ; People's Party for ; Freedom and Democracy ; (VVD)
Status in legislature	Centre-right ; Minority government ; (Caretaker/Rump)
History
Outgoing election	2006 election
Legislature term(s)	2003–2007
Outgoing formation	2006–2007 formation
Predecessor	Second Balkenende cabinet
Successor	Fourth Balkenende cabinet

The third Balkenende cabinet was the

Minister of Finance

.

The cabinet served during the middle years of unstable

2000s. Domestically, its primary objective was to make preparations for a snap election in 2006, but immigration was also a major point of attention. Internationally, it had to deal with the war on terror and the government support for the Iraq War. The cabinet suffered several major internal and external conflicts including, such as the resignations of Justice Minister Donner and Housing Minister Dekker following a critical rapport by the Dutch Safety Board about the fire at the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol that killed 11 people, and Immigration Minister Verdonk losing the portfolio of Immigration and Asylum following a motion of no confidence. Following the election the cabinet continued in a demissionary capacity until it was superseded by the fourth Balkenende cabinet.^[1]

Formation

Following the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet the Democrats 66 (D66) left the coalition and the Christian Democratic Appeal and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy formed a rump cabinet. On 1 July 2006 Queen Beatrix appointed former Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers (CDA) as Informateur to investigate the possibilities for a caretaker government. Its main tasks were the preparation of the early general election on 22 November 2006 and of the 2007 budget.^[2]

The cabinet consisted of 16 ministers and 7

Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations (Nicolaï) to replace the Democrats 66 ministers of the second Balkenende cabinet.^[3]

Term

Although the constituent parties of the cabinet did not have a majority in the House of Representatives, the cabinet had full power to propose laws, each of which needed to be supported by an ad hoc majority in parliament. Such minority government are rare in Dutch politics; the previous one was the Third Van Agt cabinet from 1982 to 1983, also a rump cabinet. The Christian Democratic Appeal and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy did have a majority (38 of 75 seats) in the Senate.

Schiphol fire

On 27 October 2005, a fire erupted at a detention center at

Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment Sybilla Dekker (VVD), responsible for government buildings resigned immediately. The mayor of Haarlemmermeer Fons Hertog, the community in which Amsterdam Airport Schiphol

is located, resigned at the same day.

On 22 September 2006, two new ministers were assigned to the posts left by Donner and Dekker. Ernst Hirsch Ballin of the CDA was the new Minister of Justice. During a much earlier third Lubbers cabinet, he had held the same position, from which he resigned in 1994 after the IRT-affair. Until his appointment as Minister of Justice, he had been the president of the Council of State. A former Minister of the Environment in the first Lubbers cabinet, VVD member Pieter Winsemius resigned as a member of the Scientific Council for Government Policy and replaced Dekker as housing minister.^[4]

General amnesty

On 30 November 2006, the new parliament was sworn in, including several members of the then demissionary cabinet. Because of the election results, this House of Representatives had a majority of parties that opposed the course of the third cabinet Balkenende on important issues. One important election issue was an amnesty for a specific group of

Ernst Hirsch Balin, the Minister of Justice, who became responsible for immigration, while Verdonk became responsible for youth criminality. Hirsh Balin could then partially execute the House of Representatives motion calling for a temporary halt to expulsions, while the VVD could voice its opposition to this decision, breaking the principle that cabinets speak with one voice.^[9]

Cabinet Members

Ministers		Title/Ministry/Portfolio			Term of office	Party
	Dr. Jan Peter Balkenende (born 1956)	Prime Minister	General Affairs		22 July 2002 – 14 October 2010 ^[Retained] ^[Continued]	Christian Democratic Appeal
	Gerrit Zalm (born 1952)	Deputy Prime Minister	Finance		27 May 2003 – 22 February 2007 ^[Retained]	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
	Gerrit Zalm (born 1952)	Minister	Finance		27 May 2003 – 22 February 2007 ^[Retained]	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
	Johan Remkes (born 1951)	Minister	Interior and Kingdom Relations		22 July 2002 – 22 February 2007 ^[Retained]	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
	Dr. Ben Bot (born 1937)	Minister	Foreign Affairs		3 December 2003 – 22 February 2007 ^[Retained]	Christian Democratic Appeal
	Piet Hein Donner (born 1948)	Minister	Justice		22 July 2002 – 21 September 2006 ^[Retained] ^[Res]	Christian Democratic Appeal
	Rita Verdonk (born 1955)				21 September 2006 – 22 September 2006 ^{[Ad Interim]}	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
	Dr. Ernst Hirsch Ballin (born 1950)				22 September 2006 – 14 October 2010 ^[Continued]	Christian Democratic Appeal
	Joop Wijn (born 1969)	Minister	Economic Affairs		7 July 2006 – 22 February 2007	Christian Democratic Appeal
	Henk Kamp (born 1952)	Minister	Defence		12 December 2002 – 22 February 2007 ^[Retained]	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
	Hans Hoogervorst (born 1956)	Minister	Health, Welfare and Sport		27 May 2003 – 22 February 2007 ^[Retained]	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
	Aart Jan de Geus (born 1955)	Minister	Social Affairs and Employment		22 July 2002 – 22 February 2007 ^[Retained]	Christian Democratic Appeal
	Maria van der Hoeven (born 1949)	Minister	Education, Culture and Science		22 July 2002 – 22 February 2007 ^[Retained]	Christian Democratic Appeal
	Karla Peijs (born 1944)	Minister	Transport and Water Management		27 May 2003 – 22 February 2007 ^[Retained]	Christian Democratic Appeal
	Sybilla Dekker (born 1942)	Minister	Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment		23 May 2003 – 21 September 2006 ^[Retained] ^[Res]	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
	Karla Peijs (born 1944)				21 September 2006 – 26 September 2006 ^{[Ad Interim]}	Christian Democratic Appeal
	Dr. Pieter Winsemius (born 1942)				26 September 2006 – 22 February 2007	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
Ministers without portfolio		Title/Ministry/Portfolio(s)			Term of office	Party
	Atzo Nicolaï (1960–2020)	Minister	Interior and Kingdom Relations	• Urban Planning • Kingdom Relations	7 July 2006 – 22 February 2007	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
	Agnes van Ardenne (born 1950)	Minister	Foreign Affairs	• Development Cooperation	27 May 2003 – 22 February 2007 ^[Retained]	Christian Democratic Appeal
	Rita Verdonk (born 1955)	Minister	Justice	• Immigration and Asylum • Integration • Minorities	27 May 2003 – 14 December 2006 ^[Retained]	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
	Rita Verdonk (born 1955)	Minister	Justice	• Integration • Youth Justice • Penitentiaries • Minorities	14 December 2006 – 22 February 2007	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
State Secretaries		Title/Ministry/Portfolio(s)			Term of office	Party
	Karien van Gennip (born 1968)	State Secretary	Economic Affairs	• Trade and Export • Small and Medium-sized Businesses • Regional Development • Consumer Protection • Tourism	27 May 2003 – 22 February 2007 ^[Retained]	Christian Democratic Appeal
	Cees van der Knaap (born 1951)	State Secretary	Defence	• Equipment	22 July 2002 – 18 December 2007 ^[Retained] ^[Continued]	Christian Democratic Appeal
	Clémence Ross- van Dorp (born 1957)	State Secretary	Health, Welfare and Sport	• Medical Ethics • Sport	22 July 2002 – 22 February 2007 ^[Retained]	Christian Democratic Appeal
	Henk van Hoof (born 1947)	State Secretary	Social Affairs and Employment	• Social Security • Unemployment • Occupational Safety • Social Services	17 June 2004 – 22 February 2007 ^[Retained]	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
	Bruno Bruins (born 1963)	State Secretary	Education, Culture and Science	• Science Policy	29 June 2006 – 22 February 2007 ^[Retained]	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
	Melanie Schultz van Haegen (born 1970)	State Secretary	Transport and Water Management	• Water Management • Weather Forecasting	22 July 2002 – 22 February 2007 ^[Retained]	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
	Pieter van Geel (born 1951)	State Secretary	Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment	• Environmental Policy	22 July 2002 – 22 February 2007 ^[Retained]	Christian Democratic Appeal

^Resigned

^{Ad Interim}

^{Continued in the next cabinet}

^{Retained from the previous cabinet}

Trivia

Five cabinet members had previous experience as scholars and professors: Jan Peter Balkenende (Christian Theology), Gerrit Zalm (Political Economics), Piet Hein Donner (Civil Law), Ernst Hirsch Ballin (Constitutional and Administrative Law) and Pieter Winsemius (Natural Science).
The age difference between oldest cabinet member Ben Bot (born 1937) and the youngest cabinet member
Melanie Schultz van Haegen
(born 1970) was 32 years, 219 days.
Pieter Winsemius had earlier served as Minister of Housing 20 years, 74 days before in the First Lubbers cabinet.

References

^ "Dutch Coalition Government Falls After D66 Withdraws". Bloomberg. 29 June 2006.
^ Dutch PM to lead minority government, Financial Times, 5 July 2006
^ Dutch news in brief, Expatica, 5 July 2006
^ Oudgedienden op Justitie en VROM (in Dutch) Archived 2006-10-21 at the Wayback Machine, NOS Journaal, 22 September 2006
^ "Balkenende maakt links fors verwijt" (in Dutch). nu.nl. 2006-12-01.
^ "Partijen vinden brief Verdonk onvoldoende" (in Dutch). Tubantia. 2006-12-05.
^ "Dutch caretaker government plunged into crisis by motion condemning immigration minister". IHT. 2006-12-13.
^ "Dutch caretaker-government faces collapse". Financial Times. 2006-12-13. Archived from the original on 2022-12-11.
^ "Kabinet en Verdonk blijven zitten" (in Dutch). De Volkskrant. 2006-12-15.

External links

Official

(in Dutch) Kabinet-Balkenende III Parlement & Politiek
(in Dutch) Kabinet-Balkenende III Rijksoverheid

[1] "Dutch Coalition Government Falls After D66 Withdraws". Bloomberg. 29 June 2006.

[ft-2] Dutch PM to lead minority government, Financial Times, 5 July 2006

[3] Dutch news in brief, Expatica, 5 July 2006

[4] Oudgedienden op Justitie en VROM (in Dutch) Archived 2006-10-21 at the Wayback Machine, NOS Journaal, 22 September 2006

[5] "Balkenende maakt links fors verwijt" (in Dutch). nu.nl. 2006-12-01.

[6] "Partijen vinden brief Verdonk onvoldoende" (in Dutch). Tubantia. 2006-12-05.

[7] "Dutch caretaker government plunged into crisis by motion condemning immigration minister". IHT. 2006-12-13.

[8] "Dutch caretaker-government faces collapse". Financial Times. 2006-12-13. Archived from the original on 2022-12-11.

[9] "Kabinet en Verdonk blijven zitten" (in Dutch). De Volkskrant. 2006-12-15.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[9]

[Retained]

[Continued]

[Res]

[Ad Interim]

[Retained]

v t e Third Balkenende cabinet (2006–2007)
Preceded by: Second Balkenende cabinet Succeeded by: Fourth Balkenende cabinet
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende (General Affairs)
Deputy Prime Minister	Gerrit Zalm (Finance)
Ministers	Johan Remkes (Interior) Ben Bot (Foreign Affairs) Piet Hein Donner (Justice) (2006) Rita Verdonk (Justice) (ad interim) Ernst Hirsch Ballin (Justice) (from 2006) Economic Affairs ) Henk Kamp (Defence) Hans Hoogervorst (Health, Welfare and Sport) Maria van der Hoeven (Education, Culture and Science) Transport, Public Works and Water Management ) Cees Veerman (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) Aart Jan de Geus (Social Affairs and Employment) Sybilla Dekker (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment) (2006) Pieter Winsemius (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment) (from 2006)
Ministers without portfolio	Rita Verdonk (Integration and Immigration) Atzo Nicolaï (Government Reform and Kingdom Relations) Development Cooperation )
State secretaries	Economic Affairs ) Cees van der Knaap (Defence) Clémence Ross-van Dorp (Health, Welfare and Sport) Bruno Bruins (Education, Culture and Science) Transport, Public Works and Water Management ) Henk van Hoof (Social Affairs and Employment) Pieter van Geel (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment)