2002 Dutch cabinet formation

After the Dutch general election of 15 May 2002, a cabinet formation took place in Netherlands. This resulted in the First Balkenende cabinet. The coalition was formed by Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF).

The Bordes scene of the First Balkenende cabinet at Huis ten Bosch on 22 July 2002 with queen Beatrix in the middle.

Background

Since 1994, the purple cabinets - First Kok cabinet and Second Kok cabinet have governed under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Wim Kok. The cabinet fell due to the cabinet crisis over the Srebrenica massacre in April 2002, just before the elections a month later, the date of which remained unchanged.[1]

As early as August 2001, Kok had indicated that he was no longer available for the PvdA party leadership position. He was succeeded by Ad Melkert. Hans Dijkstal was party leader of the coalition partner VVD. Party leader of the smallest purple party, D66, was Thom de Graaf. In the largest opposition party - the CDA - Jan Peter Balkenende became party leader. Paul Rosenmöller was party leader of GroenLinks.[2]

Pim Fortuyn on 4 May 2002.

At Liveable Netherlands, publicist Pim Fortuyn became party leader. In his book De puinhopen van acht jaar paars (English: The Wreckage of Eight Years of Purple) he described his criticism of the government's policy, in which, according to him, the public sector had been neglected. He was also critical of Islam, which he called a 'backward culture', and of migration. These latter positions led to a break with Leefbaar Nederland in February 2002, after which he founded his own party under time pressure, Lijst Pim Fortuyn. Livable Rotterdam, of which he was still party leader, managed to become the largest in the municipal elections of March 2002 in Rotterdam.[3]

While PvdA and VVD scored well in the polls until early 2002, this declined in favor of LPF and CDA. PvdA, GL and D66 turned against Fortuyn, and accused him of taking a dangerous and extreme right course. The VVD was also critical, but also wanted became more critical of asylum to compete for votes. The CDA, on the other hand, had agreed a non-aggression pact with Fortuyn in November 2001 and turned against the multicultural society.[3]

The campaign came to a standstill when on 6 May Fortuyn was murdered at the Media Park in Hilversum by environmental activist Volkert van der Graaf. The Netherlands reacted with shock. Supporters of Fortuyn went to the Binnenhof, where as the evening progressed they accused Melkert, Kok and Rosenmöller of being murderers. The decision whether the elections should go ahead was left to the LPF. They chose to allow the elections to go ahead, "because Pim would have wanted it that way." All parties stopped their campaigns.[4]

The purple parties lost significantly in the elections: PvdA from 45 to 23, VVD from 38 to 24 and D66 from 14 to 7. The LPF entered the House with 26 seats; never before had a newcomer obtained so many seats. The largest faction was the CDA with 43 seats. Following the results, both Melkert and Dijkstal resigned as party leaders, who were replaced by Jeltje van Nieuwenhoven and Gerrit Zalm respectively. The LPF-faction chose Mat Herben as party leader from five candidates.[5]

Informateur Donner

In the run-up to the elections, there had been calls for a debate on the appointment of an informateur, but due to the circumstances there was ultimately no majority in favor of this. King Beatrix was then presented by her permanent advisors and the faction leaders. Balkenende advised appointing a CDA informateur and had previously hinted at cooperation with the LPF. Herben also supported a CDA informateur for discussions with CDA, LPF and VVD. GroenLinks, D66, SP, ChristenUnie also saw a coalition of CDA, LPF and VVD as the most obvious option. Zalm supported a CDA informateur, but did not want VVD cabinet participation due to the loss. On 17 May, Beatrix appointed CDA member Piet Hein Donner as informateur.[6] He was assisted by two advisors, including Paul Huijts, and Government Information Service-chief director Eef Brouwers.[7]

Zalm continued to hold on to his blokkade. At the same time, there were signals that the VVD was preparing for cabinet participation. For example, the faction meetings were already being held with people lower on the list who would enter the House if they were to participate in the cabinet. On 24 May, after deliberation with his group, Zalm finally agreed to negotiations.[8]

The subsequent negotiations took place in a good atmosphere, with a lot of investment in personal relationships. Herben's goal was to integrate the LPF into Dutch politics, while Balkenende and Zalm wanted to bind the LPF to the system. The parliamentary factions were less involved in the negotiations than has been usual since 1982, although the negotiators did have their own formation team that they consulted. Herben in particular was later accused of working solo.[9]

The newcomer LPF was still searching during that period, both in terms of political positions and organisation. For example, confusion arose about the asylum position just before the negotations. Herben announced in the Volkskrant that he was willing to accept ten thousand rejected asylum seekerss, while Hoogendijk argued in Buitenhof for a general pardon, which amounted to a hundred thousand. Both said this was what Fortuyn had wanted. Herben eventually managed to reassure the CDA and VVD that a general pardon was not their desire.[10] In addition, Herben had to constantly leave the negotiations to resolve arguments in the faction.[11]

The parties were able to quickly reach an agreement on many issues, such as a more restrictive asylum policy, abolition of the increase in excise tax on car fuel, limitation of make-work jobs and the introduction of the elected mayor. They arrived at an austerity package of 6.82 billion euros. The most difficult topics were saved until the end: introduction of a new healthcare system and revision of the work disability insurance. CDA and VVD were mainly opposed to each other on these issues. On 19 June, negotiators also managed to reach agreement on these topics. Because of the refreshments served, this was called the 'toasted sandwich agreement'.[12]

The draft agreement was shared with the factions on 25 June. The VVD was especially satisfied; much was in line with their election manifesto. However, the former purple ministers were bothered by the title 'Restored confidence'. All groups submitted a number of amendments. The LPF tried at the last minute to establish a Ministry of Security, which would house all police responsibilities, but this was rejected. Ultimately, on 3 July, the factions agreed to the agreement entitled 'Working on trust. A matter of tackling it'. On 4 July, the House of Representatives held a debate in which the agreement was also discussed. Although no motions received a majority during that debate, negotiators increased the budget for police training. Afterwards, Donner submitted his final report to Beatrix.[13]

Formateur Balkenende

On Donner's advice, Balkenende was appointed formateur on July 4, after which Maria van der Hoeven acted as negotiator on behalf of CDA. The negotiators quickly agreed on the number of ministerial posts per party: CDA 6, LPF 4 and VVD 4, with the ministerial post for Development Aid becoming a State Secretary. Distributing the items proved more difficult and led to annoyance. LPF wanted Finance - while that ministry had actually already been given to VVD - as well as Home Affairs, Justice or a heavy ministership of Asylum and Immigration. LPF even threatened to drop out.

Ultimately, on July 10, negotiators reached a compromise in which LPF was given the ministership of Immigration and Integration. However, the LPF faction still felt under-resourced and sent Herben back to the negotiating table. LPF MPs João Varela, Joost Eerdmans and Harry Wijnschenk also went to the negotiating table themselves to once again advocate a Ministry of Security. The CDA, on the other hand, threatened to return the formateur assignment. Ultimately, VVD agreed to an LPF state secretary for police and public affairs at the Ministry of the Interior.

Personnel

Before the elections, Fortuyn and former VVD leader Hans Wiegel discussed the premiership for Wiegel if the LPF became the largest. Herben had also reiterated at the start of the formation that it was not certain that Balkenende would become prime minister and again suggested Wiegel. However, during the formation assignment, Herben expressed support for the premiership for Balkenende. Furthermore, selecting ministers was fairly easy for the CDA. At the VVD, Zalm wanted a number of women in the cabinet, but the requested women all declined, leaving CDA member Van der Hoeven as the only female minister. LPF and CDA had indicated that they did not want any ministers from the purple cabinet, but Zalm still retained three ministers from the previous cabinet.

At the LPF, finding ministers became more complicated. They could not draw on experienced administrators and politicians and did not want to promote MPs to cabinet. Preliminary work by Mickey Huibregtsen and Albert de Booij was also ignored by the faction. Transport economist Hugo Roos turned down the position of Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management because he did not consider himself suitable for politics. Herben was prepared to abandon the intention not to transfer MPs for Vic Bonke, but he decided against it for personal reasons. Herben also spoke with Ahmed Aboutaleb, board member of the institute for multicultural issues Forum, but he decided against it because his views were too far removed from LPF and later joined PvdA.[14] For the State Secretariat for Emancipation, Herben eventually found Philomena Bijlhout, who, with her Surinamese origins, became the first immigrant minister.[15]

Impatiently, Balkenende issued an ultimatum to the LPF for 16 July, for which Herben submitted a list just in time. Between 17 and 20 July, Balkenende held discussions with the candidate ministers. Special attention was paid to the separation of personal and commercial interests, because mainly LPF ministers came from the business community. On 22 July, the constituent deliberation took place, during which the Minister of the Interior claimed full responsibility for the police, despite previous commitments to the LPF. That same day, Balkenende handed in his report to Beatrix and the ministers were sworn in.

Aftermath

Seven hours after being sworn in, Bijlhout resigned - a record - because she had concealed that she had been a member of a people's militia of Desi Bouterse in Suriname at the time of the December murders. On 26 July, Balkenende delivered the government statement. Despite the relatively smooth formation, the cabinet fell after just three months due to incessant conflicts within the LPF.[16]

Source
  • Brand, Charlotte (2016). "Rust in roerige tijden". In Van Baalen, Carla; Van Kessel, Alexander (eds.). Kabinetsformaties 1977-2012 (in Dutch). Boom. pp. 319–348. ISBN 9789461054661.

References
  1. Brand 2016, pp. 319–322.
  2. Brand 2016, pp. 319–320.
  3. Brand 2016, pp. 320–321.
  4. Brand 2016, pp. 322–323.
  5. Brand 2016, pp. 323–324.
  6. Brand 2016, pp. 324–326.
  7. Brand 2016, p. 330.
  8. Brand 2016, p. 329.
  9. Brand 2016, pp. 330–332.
  10. Brand 2016, p. 332.
  11. Brand 2016, p. 334.
  12. Brand 2016, pp. 332–336.
  13. Brand 2016, pp. 336–339.
  14. Brand 2016, pp. 343–344.
  15. Brand 2016, p. 345.
  16. Brand 2016, pp. 346–348.
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