Jan Peter Balkenende

Jan Peter Balkenende
Jan Peter Balkenende
	Balkenende in 2022
Prime Minister of the Netherlands
	In office; 22 July 2002 – 14 October 2010
Monarch	Beatrix
Deputy	See list Eduard Bomhoff; (2002); Johan Remkes; (2002–2003); Roelf de Boer; (2002–2003); Gerrit Zalm; (2003–2007); Thom de Graaf; (2003–2005); Laurens Jan Brinkhorst; (2005–2006); Wouter Bos; (2007–2010); André Rouvoet; (2007–2010);
Preceded by	Wim Kok
Succeeded by	Mark Rutte
Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal
	In office; 1 October 2001 – 9 June 2010
Preceded by	Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
Succeeded by	Maxime Verhagen
Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal in the House of Representatives
	In office; 30 November 2006 – 9 February 2007
Preceded by	Maxime Verhagen
Succeeded by	Maxime Verhagen
	In office; 30 January 2003 – 21 May 2003
Preceded by	Maxime Verhagen
Succeeded by	Maxime Verhagen
	In office; 1 October 2001 – 11 July 2002
Preceded by	Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
Succeeded by	Maxime Verhagen
Member of the House of Representatives
	In office; 30 November 2006 – 22 February 2007
	In office; 30 January 2003 – 27 May 2003
	In office; 19 May 1998 – 22 July 2002
Personal details
Born	Jan Pieter Balkenende Jr.; 7 May 1956 (age 68); Biezelinge, Netherlands
Political party	Christian Democratic Appeal (1980–present)
Spouse	Bianca Hoogendijk (m. 1996)
Children	1
Education	Free University Amsterdam (LLB, BA, LLM, MA, PhD)
Signature

Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (Dutch pronunciation: [jɑm ˈpeːtər ˈbɑlkənˌɛndə] ^ⓘ or [- ˈbɑlkəˌʔɛndə]; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010.

Balkenende studied History and Law at the Free University Amsterdam obtaining Master of Arts and law degrees and worked as a legal counsel for the academic council of his alma mater before finishing his thesis and graduated as a PhD in governmental studies and worked as a professor of Christian theology at his alma mater from April 1993 until May 2002. After the election of 1998, Balkenende was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives on 19 May 1998 and served as a frontbencher and spokesperson for Finances and as deputy parliamentary leader. After Party Leader and Parliamentary leader, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer stepped down before an upcoming election Balkenende announced his candidacy and was selected as his successor on 1 October 2001. For the election of 2002, Balkenende served as lead candidate and after a cabinet formation with the Pim Fortuyn List and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy formed the Cabinet Balkenende I and became Prime Minister of the Netherlands taking office 22 July 2002.

The cabinet Balkenende I fell just 87 days into its term. For the election of 2003, Balkenende again served as lead candidate and following a cabinet formation with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and Democrats 66, they formed the Cabinet Balkenende II and continued as prime minister. This second cabinet fell on 30 June 2006 and was replaced with the caretaker Cabinet Balkenende III on 7 July 2006. For the election of 2006, Balkenende once again served as lead candidate and following a cabinet formation with Labour Leader Wouter Bos and fellow Christian-democrats, formed the Cabinet Balkenende IV and continued as prime minister for another term. This fourth cabinet fell exactly 3 years into its term. For the election of 2010, Balkenende once again served as lead candidate but suffered a large defeat and announced his retirement and stepped down as Leader on 9 June 2010. Balkenende left office following the installation of the Cabinet Rutte I on 14 October 2010.

Balkenende retired from active politics at 54 and became active in the private sector as a corporate director and also works as a professor of Governance, Institutions and Internationalization at the Erasmus University Rotterdam since December 2010. During his premiership, his cabinets were responsible for several major reforms to the education system, immigration laws and reducing the deficit following the financial crisis of 2008. He is the fourth longest-serving Prime Minister after World War II and his premiership is consistently regarded both by scholars and the public to have been above average.^[1]^[2]^[3] Balkenende was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 14 October 2022 exactly twelve years after leaving office.

Early life

Jan Pieter Balkenende Jr. was born on 7 May 1956 in Biezelinge in the province of Zeeland in a family belonging to the Reformed faith, the son of Jan Pieter Balkenende Sr. a cereal grains merchant and Thona Johanna Sandee, a teacher.

During his childhood, Balkenende was an active supporter of the Dutch football team PSV Eindhoven, along with his father he frequented many matches. He also regularly visited the local music school and theatre. Balkenende went to a Reformed Protestant primary school in Kapelle. He attended secondary school at the "Christian Lyceum for Zeeland" in Goes, graduating in 1974.^[4]^{[not specific enough to verify]}

He studied at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam where he received an MA degree in history in 1980, subsequently an LLM degree in Dutch law in 1982, and finally a PhD in law in 1992.^[4]

Balkenende resides with his wife, Bianca Hoogendijk, and his daughter, Amelie, in Capelle aan den IJssel. During his tenure as prime minister, he did not use the Catshuis, the formal residency of the Prime Minister.

Early political career

He began his career on the staff of the research institute of the CDA and as a city councilman in Amstelveen. As a councilman, he proposed the Krokettenmotie which gave council members the right to a croquette if the council went past 23:00 and it was passed. In 1992, he received his PhD with a thesis on "Governance regulation and social organisations" (Overheidsregelgeving en maatschappelijke organisaties), which was strongly inspired by the Communitarian ideas of Amitai Etzioni.^[5] One year later in 1993, he 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 lead candidate 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 House of Representatives.

Prime Minister of the Netherlands

First cabinet

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. 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 87 days in office because of internal conflicts within the LPF that destabilised the government.

Second cabinet

After early elections in 2003, Balkenende formed his second government with the 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 on reform of the Dutch public services, social security, pre-pension facilities, public health, 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 Agriculture Minister Cees Veerman. Veerman did not accept the proposition 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 of the Netherlands while 40% preferred Bos.^[6] The switch in public opinion is sometimes explained by the steady recovery of the Dutch economy during the last year of his administration and the positive effects of the reformed policy of the Balkenende cabinet, 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.

Third cabinet

On 30 June 2006, the Democrats 66, the smallest coalition party, withdrew its support of the government over the way Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk had handled the crisis around the naturalisation of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a member of the House of Representatives. Balkenende resigned for the second time as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, 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.

Fourth cabinet

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 Labour Party (PvdA) and the orthodox-Protestant Christian Union. The Fourth Balkenende cabinet was formed after Balkenende was appointed formateur by Queen Beatrix on 9 February 2007.^[7] 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.^[8] 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. Balkenende government opposed Ukraine and Georgia becoming NATO action plan members at 2008 Bucharest summit.^[9] "Ukraine is seen by Russia as part of its own historic and cultural domain," Dutch politician stated.^[9]

2010 election and resignation

Despite serious criticism by former prime ministers from the CDA, Balkenende was the Christian Democratic Appeal lead candidate 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 look so cute"). The comment was regarded as sexist and criticised 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 apologised 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]

Other issues

In 2004, during his second cabinet, Balkenende was diagnosed with necrotising 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's nicknames were "JP" and "Harry Potter", among others.^[15]

He was a member of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and since 1 May 2004, a member of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands.

Honours and decorations

National honours

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau (23 November 2010)

Foreign honours

Belgium: Commander of the Order of Leopold^[16]
Brazil: Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross
Chile: Grand Cross of the Order of Bernardo O'Higgins
Germany: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Ghana: Companion of the Order of the Star of Ghana
House of Habsburg: Honorary Knight of the Order of St. George
Jordan: Grand Cordon of the Order of Independence
Luxembourg: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Poland: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland^[17]
Romania: Grand Cross of the Order of the Star of Romania
Sweden: Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star

Awards

Golden Honorary Medal, of the municipality Amstelveen (Netherlands, 30 May 1998)

Honorary degrees

Honorary doctorate in laws, Hope College (Holland, Michigan, United States, 7 September 2012)
Honorary doctorate in human letters, Hofstra University (Hempstead, New York, United States, 22 May 2011)
Honorary doctorate in sociology, Yonsei University (Seoul, South Korea, 27 April 2010)
Honorary doctorate in systems, design and management, Keio University (Tokyo, Japan, 27 oktober 2009)
Honorary doctorate in theology, Károli Gáspár University of the Hungarian Reformed Church (Budapest, Hungary, 10 October 2005)

References

^ (in Dutch) Willem Drees gekozen tot ‘Dé premier na WO II’, Geschiedenis24.nl, 15 January 2006
^ (in Dutch) NRC-enquête: Drees en Lubbers beste premiers sinds 1900, NRC Handelsblad, 28 September 2013
^ (in Dutch) I&O Research, I&O Research, 13 March 2020
^ ^a ^b "Mr. Dr. J.P. Balkenende" (in Dutch). Leiden University. Retrieved 7 June 2007.
^ "The Political Center under Pressure: Elections in the Netherlands" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2008.
^ "Balkenende als premier populairder dan Bos" (in Dutch). Elsevier. 10 September 2006. Archived from the original on 10 February 2008.
^ "Balkenende benoemd tot formateur" (in Dutch). NOS.nl. 9 February 2007. Archived from the original on 11 February 2007.
^ Tyler, John (20 February 2010). "Dutch government falls over Afghanistan mission". Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Archived from the original on 23 February 2010. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
^ ^a ^b "'Old' and 'new' Europe divided at NATO Summit". Euractiv. 2 April 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
^ "Balkenende weer lijsttrekker CDA".
^ "Balkenende excuseert zich voor 'u kijkt zo lief'" (in Dutch). Nederlands Dagblad. 27 May 2010.
^ "Wat zeg je terug op "U kijkt zo lief"?" (in Dutch). NRC Next. 27 May 2010.
^ De Telegraaf. "Balkenende weg als CDA-leider". Retrieved 9 June 2010.
^ "Belgian Potter jibe upsets Dutch". BBC News. 6 June 2005.
^ van Gorp, Cyntha (18 May 2008). "Kijk, het is zo, je hebt te maken met JP, het is goed om dat nog eens te zeggen". Trouw (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 June 2021.
^ De Telegraph article (in Dutch).
^ Decoration of former Dutch Prime Minister H.E. Jan Peter Balkenende – website Embassy of the Republic of Poland in The Hague

External links

(in Dutch) Prof.Mr.Dr. J.P. (Jan Peter) Balkenende Parlement & Politiek
(in Dutch) Kabinet Balkenende I Rijksoverheid
(in Dutch) Kabinet-Balkenende II Rijksoverheid
(in Dutch) Kabinet-Balkenende III Rijksoverheid
(in Dutch) Kabinet-Balkenende IV Rijksoverheid

Party political offices
Preceded by Jaap de Hoop Scheffer	Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal 2001–2010	Succeeded by Maxime Verhagen
Preceded by Jaap de Hoop Scheffer	Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal in the House of Representatives 2001–2002
Preceded by Maxime Verhagen	Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal in the House of Representatives 2003
Preceded by Maxime Verhagen	Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal in the House of Representatives 2006–2007	Succeeded by Pieter van Geel
Political offices
Preceded by Wim Kok	Prime Minister of the Netherlands Minister of General Affairs 2002–2010	Succeeded by Mark Rutte

[1] (in Dutch) Willem Drees gekozen tot ‘Dé premier na WO II’, Geschiedenis24.nl, 15 January 2006

[2] (in Dutch) NRC-enquête: Drees en Lubbers beste premiers sinds 1900, NRC Handelsblad, 28 September 2013

[3] (in Dutch) I&O Research, I&O Research, 13 March 2020

[biography-4] "Mr. Dr. J.P. Balkenende" (in Dutch). Leiden University. Retrieved 7 June 2007.

[5] "The Political Center under Pressure: Elections in the Netherlands" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 February 2008.

[6] "Balkenende als premier populairder dan Bos" (in Dutch). Elsevier. 10 September 2006. Archived from the original on 10 February 2008.

[7] "Balkenende benoemd tot formateur" (in Dutch). NOS.nl. 9 February 2007. Archived from the original on 11 February 2007.

[8] Tyler, John (20 February 2010). "Dutch government falls over Afghanistan mission". Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Archived from the original on 23 February 2010. Retrieved 20 February 2010.

[divided-9] "'Old' and 'new' Europe divided at NATO Summit". Euractiv. 2 April 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2023.

[10] "Balkenende weer lijsttrekker CDA".

[11] "Balkenende excuseert zich voor 'u kijkt zo lief'" (in Dutch). Nederlands Dagblad. 27 May 2010.

[12] "Wat zeg je terug op "U kijkt zo lief"?" (in Dutch). NRC Next. 27 May 2010.

[13] De Telegraaf. "Balkenende weg als CDA-leider". Retrieved 9 June 2010.

[14] "Belgian Potter jibe upsets Dutch". BBC News. 6 June 2005.

[15] van Gorp, Cyntha (18 May 2008). "Kijk, het is zo, je hebt te maken met JP, het is goed om dat nog eens te zeggen". Trouw (in Dutch). Retrieved 2 June 2021.

[16] De Telegraph article (in Dutch).

[17] Decoration of former Dutch Prime Minister H.E. Jan Peter Balkenende – website Embassy of the Republic of Poland in The Hague

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v t e Members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands (2006–2010)
House of Representatives, 30 November 2006 – 16 June 2010
Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA – 41)	Van Geel Aasted-Madsen Algra Atsma <Balkenende> Bilder Biskop Blanksma-Van den Heuvel Van Bochove <Van de Camp> Çörüz Van Dijk <Donner> Eski Ferrier <Van Gennip> Van Haersma Buma Haverkamp <Hessels> <Van Heugten> Van Hijum <Van der Hoeven> Ten Hoopen Jager Joldersma Jonker <Van der Knaap> Knops Koopmans Koppejan <Kortenhorst> Mastwijk de Nerée tot Babberich Omtzigt Ormel De Pater-Van der Meer Pieper De Rouwe Schermers Schinkelshoek Schreijer-Pierik Smilde Spies Sterk Van Toorenburg Uitslag <Verburg> <Verhagen> Vietsch De Vries Van Vroonhoven-Kok <Wijn> Willemse-Van der Ploeg
Labour Party (PvdA – 33)	Hamer Albayrak Arib Besselink Blom Boelhouwer <Bos> Bouchibti Bouwmeester <Bussemaker> <Crone> Van Dam <Depla> Van Dijken <Dijksma> Dijsselbloem Eijsink Gill'ard Heerts Heijnen Jacobi Kalma <Koenders> Kraneveldt Kuiken <Laaper> Leerdam Linhard Roefs Samsom Smeets Spekman Tang <Tichelaar> Timmer <Timmermans> Van der Veen Verbeet (Speaker) Vermeij Vos Waalkens Wolbert <Wolfson> <Yücel>
Socialist Party (SP – 25)	Kant <Abel> Bashir Van Bommel Van Dijk Gerkens Van Gerven Gesthuizen <Van Gijlswijk> Irrgang Jansen Karabulut Langkamp Van Leeuwen Leijten Lempens Luijben Marijnissen Polderman Poppe Van Raak Roemer De Rooij <De Roos> Smits Ulenbelt Van Velzen de Wit
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD – 21)	Rutte Aptroot <Van Baalen> Van Beek Blok <Boekestijn> Ten Broeke Van der Burg Dezentjé Hamming-Bluemink <Elias> Griffith Harbers Kamp De Krom Meeuwis Van Miltenburg Neppérus Nicolaï Remkes Schippers Snijder-Hazelhoff Teeven Weekers Zijlstra
Party for Freedom (PVV – 9)	Wilders Agema Bosma Brinkman Van Dijck Fritsma Graus <Madlener> De Mos De Roon
GroenLinks (GL – 7)	Halsema Azough Dibi <Diks> <Duyvendak> Van Gent Peters Sap Vendrik
Christian Union (CU – 6)	Slob Anker Cramer <Huizinga> Ortega <Rouvoet> Voordewind Wiegman
Democrats 66 (D66 – 3)	Pechtold Van der Ham Kaya
Party for the Animals (PvdD – 2)	Thieme Ouwehand
Reformed Political Party (SGP – 2)	Van der Vlies Van der Staaij
Independent (Lid-Verdonk – 1)	Verdonk
Underline signifies the parliamentary leader (first mentioned) and the Speaker Angle brackets signify a replacement member or a member who prematurely left this House of Representatives See also: Members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, 2010–2012

v t e Demissionary Fourth Balkenende cabinet (2010)
Preceded by: Fourth Balkenende cabinet Succeeded by: First Rutte cabinet
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende (General Affairs)
Deputy Prime Minister	André Rouvoet (Education, Culture and Science and Youth and Family)
Ministers	Ernst Hirsch Ballin (Interior and Kingdom Relations and Justice) Maxime Verhagen (Foreign Affairs and Development Cooperation) Jan Kees de Jager (Finance) Maria van der Hoeven (Economic Affairs) Eimert van Middelkoop (Defence and Housing and Integration) Ab Klink (Health, Welfare and Sport) Camiel Eurlings (Transport, Public Works and Water Management) Gerda Verburg (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) Piet Hein Donner (Social Affairs and Employment) Tineke Huizinga (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment)
State Secretaries	Ank Bijleveld (Interior and Kingdom Relations) Jack de Vries (Defence) Marja van Bijsterveldt (Education, Culture and Science)

v t e Fourth Balkenende cabinet (2007–2010)
Preceded by: Third Balkenende cabinet Succeeded by: Demissionary Fourth Balkenende cabinet
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende General Affairs
Deputy Prime Ministers	Wouter Bos (Finance) André Rouvoet (Youth and Family)
Ministers	Guusje ter Horst (Interior and Kingdom Relations) Maxime Verhagen (Foreign Affairs) Ernst Hirsch Ballin (Justice) Maria van der Hoeven (Economic Affairs) Eimert van Middelkoop (Defence) Ab Klink (Health, Welfare and Sport) Ronald Plasterk (Education, Culture and Science) Camiel Eurlings (Transport, Public Works and Water Management) Gerda Verburg (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) Piet Hein Donner (Social Affairs and Employment) Jacqueline Cramer (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment)
Ministers without portfolio	Ella Vogelaar (Housing and Integration) (2007–2008) Eberhard van der Laan (Housing and Integration) (from 2008) Bert Koenders (Development Cooperation)
State Secretaries	Ank Bijleveld (Interior and Kingdom Relations) Frans Timmermans (Foreign Affairs) Jan Kees de Jager (Finance) Nebahat Albayrak (Justice) Frank Heemskerk (Economic Affairs) Cees van der Knaap (Defence) (2007) Jack de Vries (Defence) (from 2007) Jet Bussemaker (Health, Welfare and Sport) Marja van Bijsterveldt (Education, Culture and Science) Sharon Dijksma (Education, Culture and Science) Tineke Huizinga (Transport, Public Works and Water Management) Ahmed Aboutaleb (Social Affairs and Employment) (2007–2008) Jetta Klijnsma (Social Affairs and Employment) (from 2008)

v t e Third Balkenende cabinet (2006–2007)
Preceded by: Second Balkenende cabinet Succeeded by: Fourth Balkenende cabinet
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende (General Affairs)
Deputy Prime Minister	Gerrit Zalm (Finance)
Ministers	Johan Remkes (Interior) Ben Bot (Foreign Affairs) Piet Hein Donner (Justice) (2006) Rita Verdonk (Justice) (ad interim) Ernst Hirsch Ballin (Justice) (from 2006) Joop Wijn (Economic Affairs) Henk Kamp (Defence) Hans Hoogervorst (Health, Welfare and Sport) Maria van der Hoeven (Education, Culture and Science) Karla Peijs (Transport, Public Works and Water Management) Cees Veerman (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) Aart Jan de Geus (Social Affairs and Employment) Sybilla Dekker (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment) (2006) Pieter Winsemius (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment) (from 2006)
Ministers without portfolio	Rita Verdonk (Integration and Immigration) Atzo Nicolaï (Government Reform and Kingdom Relations) Agnes van Ardenne (Development Cooperation)
State secretaries	Karien van Gennip (Economic Affairs) Cees van der Knaap (Defence) Clémence Ross-van Dorp (Health, Welfare and Sport) Bruno Bruins (Education, Culture and Science) Melanie Schultz van Haegen (Transport, Public Works and Water Management) Henk van Hoof (Social Affairs and Employment) Pieter van Geel (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment)

v t e Second Balkenende cabinet (2003–2006)
^{Preceded by: First Balkenende cabinet · Succeeded by: Third Balkenende cabinet}
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende (General Affairs)
Deputy Prime Ministers	Gerrit Zalm (Finance) Thom de Graaf (Government Reform and Kingdom Relations) (2003–2005) Laurens Jan Brinkhorst (Economic Affairs) (2005–2006)
Ministers	Johan Remkes (Interior) Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (Foreign Affairs) (2003) Ben Bot (Foreign Affairs) (from 2003) Piet Hein Donner (Justice) Gerrit Zalm (Economic Affairs) (ad interim) Henk Kamp (Defence) Hans Hoogervorst (Health, Welfare and Sport) Maria van der Hoeven (Education, Culture and Science) Karla Peijs (Transport, Public Works and Water Management) Cees Veerman (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) Aart Jan de Geus (Social Affairs and Employment) Sybilla Dekker (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment)
Ministers without portfolio	Rita Verdonk (Integration and Immigration) Agnes van Ardenne (Development Cooperation) Alexander Pechtold (Government Reform and Kingdom Relations) (2005–2006)
State secretaries	Atzo Nicolaï (Foreign Affairs) Joop Wijn (Finance) Karien van Gennip (Economic Affairs) Cees van der Knaap (Defence) Annette Nijs (Education, Culture and Science) (2003–2004) Medy van der Laan (Education, Culture and Science) Mark Rutte (Education, Culture and Science) (2004–2006) Bruno Bruins (Education, Culture and Science) (from 2006) Clémence Ross-van Dorp (Health, Welfare and Sport) Melanie Schultz van Haegen (Transport, Public Works and Water Management) Mark Rutte (Social Affairs and Employment) (2003–2004) Henk van Hoof (Social Affairs and Employment) (from 2004) Pieter van Geel (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment)