Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈjɑn ˈpetər ˈbɑlkənˌɛndə] ( listen)) (born May 7, 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from July 22, 2002 until October 14, 2010.
He previously served as a Member of the House of Representatives from May 19, 1998 until July 22, 2002. After then CDA Party leader and Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives Jaap de Hoop Scheffer stepped down after a internal power struggle, between him and and then CDA Party Chair Marnix van Rij. Balkenende succeed him in both positions, and became the CDA Lijsttrekker for the Dutch general election of 2002. The CDA became the surprising winner of the election, gaining 14 seats (from 29 to 43) and becoming the largest party in the House of Representatives. This success was in part owed to Balkenende and to his neutral attitude in the debate with LPF leader Pim Fortuyn, for not having participated in the supposed ‘demonization’ by the political Left. Fortuyn was assassinated during the national election campaign on May 6, 2002.
Balkenende became Prime Minister of the Netherlands, leading the Cabinet Balkenende I but it collapsed after just 86 days in office because of internal conflicts within the LPF that destabilised the government. After the Dutch general election of 2003, Balkenende who again as CDA Lijsttrekker gained 1 seat and formed the new Cabinet Balkenende II. The cabinet fell on June 30, 2006 after the D66, the smallest coalition party withdrew its support of the cabinet over the way Minister for Integration and Immigration Rita Verdonk had handled the crisis around the naturalization of Member of the House of Representatives Ayaan Hirsi Ali. A rump cabinet Balkenende III was formed and stayed in office until the Dutch general election of 2006. Balkenende again as Lijsttrekker lost three seats but the CDA remained the largest party with 41 seats. After the cabinet formation, the new Cabinet Balkenende IV took office on February 22, 2007. The cabinet fell on February 20, 2010 as the result of disagreement between CDA and Labour Party over the extension of ISAF mission in Afghanistan. For the Dutch general election of 2010, Balkenende for a fourth time as Lijsttrekker resigned his position as Party leader taking political responsibility after the CDA's disappointing results in the election. He remaind as Prime Minister of the Netherlands until the new Cabinet Rutte was installed on October 14, 2010. [1] [2]
After his premiership, Balkenende retired from active politics and became a partner at the professional services firm Ernst & Young and returned as a professor of political science at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. [3] [4]
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Jan Pieter Balkenende was born on May 7, 1956 in Biezelinge in the Netherlands Province of Zeeland. His father, Jan Pieter Balkenende, was a cereal grains merchant and his mother, Thona Johanna Sandee, was a teacher.
Balkenende went to a Protestant primary school in Kapelle. He attended secondary school at the "Christian Lyceum for Zeeland" in Goes, graduating in 1974.[5] He studied at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, where he received an M.A. degree in history in 1980, an LL.M. degree in Dutch Law in 1982, and finally a PhD degree in Law in 1992.[5] Balkenende resides with his wife, Bianca Hoogendijk, and his daughter, Amelie, in Capelle aan den IJssel, a suburb of Rotterdam. During his tenure as Prime Minister, he rented an apartment in The Hague, rather than live in the Catshuis, the formal residency of the Prime Minister.
He began his career on the staff of the research institute of the CDA and as a city councilman in Amstelveen. In that period he received his PhD with a thesis on "Administrative regulation and social organisations" (Overheidsregelgeving en maatschappelijke organisaties), a work strongly inspired by the Communitarian ideas of Amitai Etzioni.[6] He later became an extraordinary professor of Christian-Social Thought at the Free University of Amsterdam.
Balkenende first entered the House of Representatives on 19 May 1998 while the CDA was in opposition. He became the CDA's financial spokesman and was also involved with social affairs, justice, and domestic affairs. In this role he advocated a substantial reduction of the national debt and sound public finances.
He was elected Chairman of the CDA parliamentary fraction on 1 October 2001, succeeding Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. On 3 November 2001, he was appointed lijsttrekker for the CDA in the tumultuous May 2002 parliamentary elections. These elections restored the CDA's former position as the largest political party in the Dutch parliament.
Balkenende has been prime minister of four successive cabinets.
On 4 July 2002 Queen Beatrix asked Balkenende to form a new government after the general elections following the resignation of Prime Minister Wim Kok. This cabinet is known as Balkenende I. The coalition cabinet included the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) party, whose leader (Pim Fortuyn) was assassinated just days before the election. It collapsed after just 86 days in office because of internal conflicts within the LPF that destabilised the government.
After early elections in 2003 Balkenende formed his second government with: Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the progressive liberal D66. Once again leader of a centre-right coalition, Balkenende's policies centred around reform of the Dutch public services, reducing crime, a tough immigration policy and historically large cuts in public spending. The measures gave rise to large public anger and bad results in opinion polls for his CDA party. While his party remained the largest Dutch delegation in the European Parliament after the European Elections, beating the general expectation of a huge loss in parliamentary seats, the party suffered strong losses during Dutch municipal elections of 2006, losing their position as the largest party in many municipalities. Despite his unpopularity among Dutch voters (polls in 2006 showed that only 26–33% of the voters had confidence in him as prime minister), his position as leader of the CDA remained stable. In the beginning of 2006, some CDA members tried to replace Balkenende as leader with minister Cees Veerman. Veerman did not accept this and offered his support to Balkenende. Balkenende's popularity recovered since then, surpassing that of his main competitor Wouter Bos in the autumn of 2006. By then, 53% preferred Balkenende as Prime Minister while 40% preferred Bos.[7] This switch in public opinion is sometimes explained by the steady recovery of the Dutch economy during the last year of his administration, combined with declining confidence in Bos as a good alternative for the position of prime-minister.
On 1 July 2004 Balkenende took up the rotating presidency of the European Union.
On 30 June 2006 D66, the smallest coalition party, withdrew its support of the government over the way immigration minister Rita Verdonk had handled the crisis around the naturalization of Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Balkenende resigned for the second time as Prime Minister, announced early elections and presented his third government a week later. This rump cabinet, formed of a minority coalition of CDA and VVD, stayed in office until the elections of 22 November 2006.
Though his old coalition partners VVD and D66 fared badly in the parliamentary elections of 2006, Balkenende managed to defend the dominant position of his CDA. Needing alternative coalition partners to form a new majority government, he formed a social-Christian coalition with the Dutch Labour Party (PVDA) and the orthodox-Protestant ChristianUnion. This Fourth Balkenende cabinet is the current coalition cabinet of the Netherlands, formed by Balkenende, who was appointed formateur by Queen Beatrix on 9 February 2007.[8] His cabinet was announced on 13 February and was scheduled to be in office until 2011, but it fell in the early morning of 20 February 2010 as the result of disagreement between the majority of the parliament and the coalition partners CDA and PvdA over the extension of the Dutch ISAF-mission in Afghanistan.[9] In contrast to the formation of a new caretaker cabinet with full responsibility (Balkenende III after the fall of Balkenende II), Balkenende IV continued as a demissionary cabinet, a caretaker cabinet with limited responsibility.
Despite serious criticism by former prime ministers from the CDA, Balkenende was the Christian Democratic Appeal Lijsttrekker for the Dutch general election of 2010.[10] Balkenende raised mild controversy during his campaign for the 2010 Dutch elections. While appearing in a television show, Balkenende was asked by a female presenter what parties he would most likely form a coalition with. Balkenende first gave evasive answers, then when asked again by the presenter, responded saying "U kijkt zo lief" (English: You have such a sweet look in your eyes). The comment was regarded as sexist and criticized by several people, including Opzij chief-editor Margriet van der Linden and GroenLinks leader Femke Halsema (who stated that "[the prime minister] deserves a knee to the groin" (in Dutch: "een knietje verdient")).[11] Balkenende apologized for the comment later.[12]
On 9 June 2010, Balkenende resigned his position as leader of the CDA as well as his seat in the newly-elected parliament, taking political responsibility for the CDA's disappointing election results in the 2010 general election.[13]
In 2004, during his second cabinet, Balkenende was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis. He was treated through surgical debridement and made a full recovery after several weeks in hospital.
On 4 June 2005, the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel De Gucht said in the Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws (The Latest News) that "Balkenende is a mix of Harry Potter and a petty rigid bourgeois mentality". This comparison caused a small diplomatic controversy, and the Belgian ambassador had to apologise to Ben Bot, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs.[14] Retired Deputy Prime Minister Hans Wiegel commented he preferred Harry Potter to the Manneken Pis.
Balkenende has a close relationship with the Dutch people from Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles. He has visited several Keti Koti celebrations in recent years.
Balkenende has also been accused of breaching International Law by allowing asylum seekers to be placed on barges in Rotterdam Harbour and he has also been accused by Dutch and Dutch-born citizens in Australia and Canada of disregarding their Dutch heritage through a process, illegal in International law, of no longer regarding Dutch emigrants to places such as Australia and New Zealand as being Dutch.
He is a member of the Calvinist Protestant Church in the Netherlands.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jaap de Hoop Scheffer |
Party leader Christian Democratic Appeal 2001-2010 |
Succeeded by Maxime Verhagen |
| Preceded by Jaap de Hoop Scheffer |
Parliamentary leader - Christian Democratic Appeal House of Representatives 2001-2002 |
Succeeded by Maxime Verhagen |
| Preceded by Maxime Verhagen |
Parliamentary leader - Christian Democratic Appeal House of Representatives 2003 |
Succeeded by Maxime Verhagen |
| Preceded by Maxime Verhagen |
Parliamentary leader - Christian Democratic Appeal House of Representatives 2006-2007 |
Succeeded by Pieter van Geel |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by Wim Kok |
Minister of General Affairs 2002-2010 |
Succeeded by Mark Rutte |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Wim Kok |
Prime Minister of the Netherlands 2002-2010 |
Succeeded by Mark Rutte |
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