A little less than a year before the official end of the Dutch government's term in office - it collapsed. The reason for the crisis was the stance of Immigration and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk and added to that, the small coalition party D66 lost trust in the cabinet and made its three cabinet ministers offer their resignations to the Queen as soon as they could.
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The now-divided cabinet: the finger's are being pointed at the PM and the D66 party |
With that Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende had little choice but to discard the portfolios of the rest of the cabinet. What this means in reality is that the progressive liberal D66 government ministers can clear their desks, while their Christian democrat and conservative colleagues in the CDA and VVD are given the status of 'outgoing' and will carry out their business as much as they can until the next election. According to Prime Minister Balkenende, the polls will be in the Autumn of this year.
Cut short
For Mr Balkenende it was the second time that a cabinet carrying his name was cut short. In October 2002, his first cabinet fell into chaos on the same evening that Prince Claus - husband of Queen Beatrix - was interred in Delft. At the time it was said that the prime minister bowed to the inevitable.
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Alexander Pechtold of D66 - no longer a minister
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Pechtold
Earlier, a D66 minister (for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations) had quit the cabinet in frustration. He was succeeded by Alexander Pechtold and that, coupled with a series of issues which pitched the CDA and VVD on one side, and the D66 on the other - caused the problems.
There were rows about investment in education, far-reaching reforms of public broadcasting and the issue of elected mayors and reform of the voting system. And the D66, the smallest coalition party, isolated themselves again with their differing stance on the Dutch peacekeeping mission to Uruzgan in Afghanistan. The parliamentary debate about Uruzgan cost the job of then party leader Boris Dittrich, and led to even more bad feeling towards the party from the CDA and VVD.
Opinion polls
Finally, as opinion polls showed support for the D66 remained disastrously low, calls from within the party for the D66 to withdraw from the cabinet intensified.
This was only made worse by Minister Verdonk and her asylum policy. The uncompromising way with which Verdonk dealt with refugee applications was like a red rag to a bull for the D66 party members. At practically every D66 congress meeting a motion was passed that the party's MPs should attempt to bring down Ms Verdonk.
Snuffed out
Also, the way in which Prime Minister Balkenende directed matters in cabinet has contributed to another government led by him being snuffed out early. Ministers - not only from the D66 - were too often heard making rather dissenting noises opposing general cabinet policy. Balkenende never, or hardly ever dealt with this and this led to the ministers freely going their own way.
As a consequence of all these circumstances, coupled with the unpopular status of the cabinet with the average person on the street, who hadn't warmed to the prime minister as the 'father of the fatherland', it is actually hardly surprising that the second cabinet of Balkenende didn't implode earlier.
Elections
The prime minister has combined the end of his cabinet with the promise of an early election. Although these polls will come at a bad moment for almost all parties, they must still campaign. Which themes they will choose to win over the electorate is still not clear, but certainly the VVD and CDA will point the finger at the D66 and the opposition left-leaning parties as the perpetrators and accessories to the fall of the cabinet.
For now, parliament is in summer recess because the cabinet crisis happened on the last day of the parliamentary term. It could be a stormy summer, though for Balkenende and his cabinet colleagues there will be a sooner than expected return from their holidays.
Tags: balkenende, CDA, collapse, D66, Dutch government, elections , POLLS, vvd