Fourth Balkenende cabinet

Policy

The coalition agreement titled "Living together, working together" was presented on 7 February in a press conference by Balkenende, Bos, Rouvoet. It is structured into six commitments of the new cabinet. If a proposal was included in a party's electoral manifesto, this is mentioned as well.^[3][4]

• An active and constructive role in the world, which is characterized by these policies:
  • Continued investments into the Joint Strike Fighter (as the CDA proposed).
  • The new cabinet is not in favour of a new referendum on the European Constitution, which was voted down in 2005, but will consider new initiatives (both the CDA and CU opposed the referendum initially).
• An innovative, competitive and entrepreneurial economy, which is characterized by these policies:
  • 1 billion increased spending on education (as all parties proposed).
  • Privatization of Schiphol airport is shelved (as the CU and the PvdA proposed).
• A durable environment, which is characterized by these policies:
  • 800 million euros additional spending on renewable energy (as both the PvdA and the CU proposed).
  • Pollution will be taxed more heavily (as both the PvdA and the CU proposed).
  • A tax on airline tickets totalling 350 million euros (as all parties proposed).
  • No new investments in nuclear energy (as the CU and the PvdA proposed).
• Social cohesion, which is characterized by these policies:
  • A reform of the system of basic state pensions: people who have private pensions of 15,000 euros and higher and who stop working before the age of 65 will pay an additional tax as of 2011. People who work beyond 65 receive tax breaks. This measure should guarantee an affordable basic state pension (AOW) despite trends in population ageing (a compromise between the PvdA, which wanted to tax all rich elderly and the CDA which wanted incentives to make people work longer).
  • Public social housing will not be liberalised, rent rates may be raised only in line with inflation (as the PvdA proposed).
  • The tax deduction on mortgage interest payments remains unchanged (as the CDA proposed).
  • Investments in problem areas in the large cities to make them "beautiful neighbourhoods" (as the PvdA proposed).
  • Re-implementation of the subsidized jobs-scheme for the unemployed (as the PvdA proposed).
  • Childcare spending totalling 700 million euros (free child care was a PvdA election promise and opposed by CDA).
• Safety, stability and respect, which is characterized by these policies:
  • Reduction of all crimes by 25%.
  • A ban on burqas and other face covering clothing for security reasons (as the CDA proposed).
• Government and a servile public sector^[5]
  • In response to opposition to extravagant wages earned by some top civil servants and top level managers of quangos, sometimes five times that of the prime minister, no one will be allowed an income greater than the prime minister's. In order to accomplish this, the prime minister's salary will be increased.
  • Cutting the number of civil servants to save 750 million euros.
  • Women seeking an abortion are to expect an additional waiting period between first consultation and actual procedure on top of the already mandatory five days waiting period (as the CU proposed).
  • Minor reforms of the health care-system, including the abolishment of the no claim and the re-inclusion of dental care into the basic insurance.
  • Increased taxation on cigarettes and liquor, smoke-free bars and restaurants by 2011.
  • A general pardon for asylum seekers who entered the Netherlands before the new Asylum Law came into effect (as both the CU and the PvdA proposed).
  • The coalition wants to have a budget surplus of 1% of the GDP by 2011 with a projected 2% annual economic growth (as all parties proposed).

Fall and aftermath

In February 2010, NATO had officially requested the Netherlands to extend its military involvement in Task Force Uruzgan, the ISAF operation in the Afghan province of Uruzgan, aimed at training Afghan security forces and transfer of responsibilities to the local authorities.^[6][7][8] Coalition party PvdA strongly opposed the extension of the mission.^[9][10][11] The collision between the government and the parliament, of which the majority disagreed with an extension of the mission, as well as between the coalition partners in the cabinet, threatened the existence of the cabinet^[12] and led to its fall in the night between 19 and 20 February 2010, after 16 hours of deliberations between the cabinet members. The Labour members resigned from the cabinet.^{[13][14][15][16]}

As queen Beatrix was on holiday in Austria (Lech am Arlberg) at the time, Balkenende informed her formally by phone about the break-up of the cabinet. She returned soon to The Hague and held consultations with advisors and with the leaders of all political groupings in parliament on 22 and 23 February. On the latter day, the queen accepted the resignations of the PvdA ministers and secretaries, and maintained the 15 remaining cabinet members of CDA and Christian Union (whose positions had also been offered to the queen for consideration, a customary procedure in the Netherlands) to run a demissionary cabinet (caretaker government), which meant that it could not make large decisions or proposals on topics deemed controversial. No new cabinet members were appointed, the already functioning ministers and state secretaries taking care of the empty positions until a new government would be formed. Early elections were held on 9 June 2010. The cabinet formation started a day later.

Labour leader Wouter Bos, who resigned as deputy prime minister and finance minister, announced that he wanted to continue to lead his party. Labour Party leader Bos denied that the upcoming local elections in the Netherlands played a role in the decision to refuse to compromise on a possible extension of the Dutch military mission in Afghanistan.^[17]