First Balkenende cabinet

Incidents and Scandals

The first Balkenende cabinet was very unstable from the beginning. Elections had been held in the very recent aftermath of the assassination of Pim Fortuyn, the leader of the newly established Pim Fortuyn List. Emotions in the Netherlands had run very high. The LPF was catapulted into enormous wins, but was unprepared for cabinet participation.

Only three of the 27 cabinet members had previous experience in government, leading to speculation that it wouldn't last long. As it turned out, personality conflicts and the general inexperience of LPF cabinet members led to the rapid implosion of the cabinet after a little more than two months.

Resignation of State Secretary Bijlhout

The first scandal in the new government came only nine hours after it took office. Philomena Bijlhout, the State Secretary for Social Affairs and Work Opportunity and a member of the LPF, resigned after RTL 4 reported that she had been a member of a militia of Surinamese military dictator Dési Bouterse in 1982 and 1983. This was during the period when the militia had committed the political murders known as the "December Murders". Bijlhout, who was born in Suriname, had never denied being part of the militia, but claimed she'd left prior to the December Murders.^[2]

Power Struggles within the LPF and the Resignation of the Cabinet

In the months following the election, the LPF was beset by power struggles between various factions. A big incident was when Immigration and Integration Minister Hilbrand Nawijn declared to be in favour of the death penalty. The cabinet was officially opposed to the death penalty. Nawijn responded that he made his remark as leader of the LPF. The party in its turn declared that it was opposed to the death penalty. Nawijn was highly criticised when he declared that it was a personal remark, because it was normal that a minister in a coalition cabinet could make remarks as a party member outside his ministerial responsibility.

In September and October Herman Heinsbroek speculated in public about leading a new party and resigning from the government. This led to tension between him and his supporter Steven van Eyck and Bomhoff. VVD-leader Zalm tried to convince the LPF ministers to replace both Bomhoff and Heinsbroek but his real aim was to use these resignations to call for new elections and to repair the huge losses of his VVD party in the election after the murder of Fortuyn. Disregarding Bomhoff's warnings, the other LPF ministers took the bait and told Bomhoff and Heinsbroek to resign, which they did on October 16. Immediately, Zalm broke his commitment to the remaining LPF ministers to accept replacements for Bomhoff and Heinsbroek and called for fresh elections. Meetings with the Queen did not take place until the week after the resignation, since she had travelled to Italy immediately after the funeral. On 21 October she accepted the resignation and new elections were called for 22 January 2003. The cabinet remained in place as a demissionary cabinet, without Bomhoff and Heinsbroek, until the elections and formation of the second Balkenende cabinet.

On 12 December 2002 Benk Korthals resigned as caretaker Minister of Defence after a commission of inquiry into building industry fraud accused him of giving false information to the Lower House during the previous cabinet. After resigning he said he still denied the allegations.

After the ensuing new elections, the LPF lost two-thirds of its seats in the House of Representatives. The party was never a significant force in Dutch politics again, and dissolved in 2008.

The term of 87 days (counting the first and last days in full and excluding its "caretaker" function that continued for months afterwards) was the shortest since the fifth cabinet of Hendrikus Colijn (25 July 1939 – 10 August 1939).

Cabinet Actions

• Revoking a planned ban on mink farming initiated by the previous cabinet.^[3]
• Approval of an expansion of the European Union.
• Support for the United States in its plan to invade Iraq.
• Cuts to Ad Melkert's subsidised jobs scheme, the Melkertbanen.
• Removal of price controls on certain popular medical interventions (knee and hip operations, cataract operations) in an effort to reduce waiting lists.
• Reorganisation of defence, including budget cuts and the termination of 4800 jobs.^[4]
• Reduction of spending on public transport by 39 million euros.^[5]
• Cuts to the budgets of most government departments, countered by increased spending in health and some other areas.

Secretary of State for Finance and Economic Affairs of Gambia Famara Jatta and State Secretary for Foreign Affairs for Development Cooperation Agnes van Ardenne at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. on 28 September 2002.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and United States Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz at The Pentagon on 1 May 2003.

Ambassador of the Netherlands to the United States Boudewijn van Eenennaam, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and United States Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz at The Pentagon on 1 May 2003.