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First Rutte cabinet

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First Rutte cabinet
Rutte–Verhagen cabinet

Cabinet of the Netherlands
Installation of the cabinet by Queen Beatrix at Huis ten Bosch on 14 October 2010
Date formed14 October 2010 (2010-10-14)
Date dissolved5 November 2012 (2012-11-05)
2 years, 22 days in office
(Demissionary from 23 April 2012 (2012-04-23))
People and organisations
MonarchQueen Beatrix
Prime MinisterMark Rutte
Deputy Prime MinisterMaxime Verhagen
No. of ministers12
Ministers removed1
Total no. of members13
Member partyPeople's Party for
Freedom and Democracy

(VVD)
Christian Democratic Appeal
(CDA)
Party for Freedom
(PVV)
(Confidence and supply)
Status in legislatureRight-wing
Minority government
(Confidence and supply)
History
Election2010 election
Outgoing election2012 election
Legislature terms2010–2012
Incoming formation2010 formation
Outgoing formation2012 formation
PredecessorFourth Balkenende cabinet
SuccessorSecond Rutte cabinet

The first Rutte cabinet, also called the Rutte–Verhagen cabinet was the executive branch of the government of the Netherlands from 14 October 2010 until 5 November 2012. The cabinet was formed by the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) after the election of 2010. The cabinet was a right-wing coalition and had a minority in the House of Representatives but had confidence and supply from the Party for Freedom (PVV) for a slim majority with Liberal Leader Mark Rutte serving as Prime Minister. Christian Democratic Leader Maxime Verhagen served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation.

The cabinet served in the early years of the 2010s. Domestically, it had to deal with the fallout of the financial crisis of 2008 but it was able to implement several major social reforms to law enforcement, victims' rights and immigration. Internationally, it had to deal with the European debt crisis, the war on terror and the government support for the Task Force Uruzgan. The cabinet suffered several major internal and external conflicts because of the confidence and supply construction from the Party for Freedom. The cabinet fell just 18 months into its term on 23 April 2012 after the Party for Freedom withdrew its support following a disagreeing with the coalition over stronger austerity measures to reduce the deficit following the financial crisis. The cabinet continued in a demissionary capacity until it was replaced by the second Rutte cabinet following the election of 2012.[1][2][3]

Formation

[edit]

Following the collapse of the fourth Balkenende cabinet on 20 February 2010, elections for the House of Representatives were held on 9 June 2010. As usual in Dutch politics, none of the parties had a majority and several informateurs were appointed to investigate the formation of a coalition cabinet. A broad coalition consisting of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the Labour Party (PvdA) was briefly looked at, but dismissed. Then negotiations for a "purple plus" coalition consisting of the VVD, PvdA, Democrats 66 and GreenLeft lasted for about three weeks, but the parties could not reach agreement on the amount of budget cuts.

Finally, a construction which is rare for the Netherlands was investigated: a minority coalition consisting of the VVD and Christian Democratic Appeal (together 52 out of 150 seats in the House of Representatives), supported in parliament by the Party for Freedom (PVV, 24 seats), to make the smallest possible majority of 76 seats. The right wing PVV had the largest gains in the recent elections.

The stated reason for this construction was that parties agreed that the largest party (the VVD) and the party with the largest gains (considered the 'winner' in Dutch politics) needed to be in power. Only CDA could or wanted to help make a majority, but they were against forming a proper coalition with PVV because of their different views on Islam and immigration. Therefore, negotiations were held to form a coalition agreement between the VVD and CDA), and to form a "parliamentary support agreement" between all three parties, which were successfully finished on 30 September 2010.

When Rutte took office on 14 October, it marked the first time that the VVD had led a government since its formation in 1946. It also marked the first liberal-led government since 1913.

Opposition parties and commentators expected that the coalition would prove to be unstable because at a special Christian Democratic Appeal conference, about a third of the party members voted against the formation of this cabinet. Also, at least three members of parliament in the CDA parliamentary fraction indicated to have difficulties with the cabinet. Eventually they left the parliament or supported the deal, pointing to the approval by the majority of the party conference.

When the cabinet took office, the three parties had a minority in the Senate of 35 out of 75 seats. The parties hoped this would change following the Dutch Senate election of 2011, but they obtained 37 seats, one short of a majority. A small protestant party, the Reformed Political Party, which obtained one seat, supported the cabinet in the Senate however.

The cabinet consisted of 12 Ministers and 8 State secretaries. The positions where divided equally among the coalition members, regardless of their respective size: People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (31 seats in parliament) supplied 6 Ministers and 4 State secretaries, and Christian Democratic Appeal (21 seats) also supplied 6 Ministers and 4 State secretaries.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Nick Clegg in the Torentje on 15 November 2010.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte and President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy at the Catshuis on 20 January 2011.
Prime Minister of Belgium Yves Leterme, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker at the Catshuis on 24 May 2011.
State Secretary for Security and Justice Fred Teeven and United States Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano in The Hague on 22 June 2011.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyễn Tấn Dũng at the Binnenhof on 28 September 2011.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin in the White House on 20 October 2011.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte and President of the United States Barack Obama in the Oval Office on 29 November 2011.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Prime Minister of Sweden Fredrik Reinfeldt at a press conference in Stockholm on 5 December 2011.
Prime Minister of Belgium Elio Di Rupo and Prime Minister Mark Rutte at a press conference at the Catshuis on 18 January 2012.
Prime Minister of Estonia Andrus Ansip, Prime Minister of Denmark Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the Catshuis on 13 February 2012.
Chinese top politician Wu Bangguo and Prime Minister Mark Rutte at the Binnenhof on 15 May 2012.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Prime Minister of Spain Mariano Rajoy in Madrid on 7 June 2012.
Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Berlin on 20 June 2012.

Term

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Policy

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In accordance with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) approach to laissez-faire and a small government, the number of ministers and State Secretaries was reduced from the previous cabinet by merging several ministries. The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality was merged with the Ministry of Economic Affairs to form a combined Ministry Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation. The Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment was merged with the Ministry of Transport and Water Management to form the new Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment.

The portfolio of public security was transferred from the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations to the Ministry of Justice which was renamed as the Ministry of Security and Justice, in line with the tough security profile of the coalition parties, especially the VVD which delivered both the minister and state secretary for this department. Also the position of the Minister for Development Cooperation, a long serving Minister without portfolio title that had been used continuously since 1965 (except for a small break from 2002 to 2003), was scrapped and replaced by the return of a Minister without portfolio for Immigration and Asylum Affairs like in the previous Cabinets Balkenende I, II and III, but this time this post was placed at the department and budget of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations instead of the Ministry of Security and Justice.

Withdrawal of support of the Party for Freedom

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Because of the financial crisis in the Netherlands and because of the rules of the Euro convergence criteria that the deficit should be maximum 3%, the Leaders of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy Mark Rutte, Christian Democratic Appeal Maxime Verhagen and the Party for Freedom Geert Wilders decided to talk with each other about new, severe austerity measures, worth about 14 billion Euro. The negotiations about the measures were held in the Catshuis and lasted 7 weeks and ended on 21 April when Geert Wilders walked out of the negotiations. The reason he gave was that the measure would negatively impact people who receive benefits from the pensions law. Both Mark Rutte and Maxime Verhagen blamed Wilders for the failure of the negotiations. As a result, the government resigned and a new election was called.

Composition changes

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On 16 December 2011, Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Piet Hein Donner (CDA) resigned after he was nominated as the new Vice-President of the Council of State succeeding Herman Tjeenk Willink. He was replaced as Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations by former Chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Appeal Liesbeth Spies. Piet Hein Donner as Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations was responsible for the portfolio of Integration. When he resigned the Integration portfolio was transferred to Minister without portfolio Gerd Leers.[4][5][6]

Cabinet members

[edit]
Ministers Title/Ministry/Portfolio(s) Term of office Party
Mark Rutte Mark Rutte
(born 1967)
Prime Minister General Affairs 14 October 2010 –
Incumbent
[Continued]
People's Party
for Freedom and
Democracy
Maxime Verhagen Maxime Verhagen
(born 1956)
Deputy
Prime Minister
Economic Affairs,
Agriculture and
Innovation
14 October 2010 –
5 November 2012
Christian
Democratic Appeal
Minister
Piet Hein Donner Piet Hein Donner
(born 1948)
Minister Interior and
Kingdom Relations
14 October 2010 –
16 December 2011
[App]
Christian
Democratic Appeal
Liesbeth Spies Liesbeth Spies
(born 1966)
16 December 2011 –
5 November 2012
Christian
Democratic Appeal
Uri Rosenthal Dr.
Uri Rosenthal
(born 1945)
Minister Foreign Affairs 14 October 2010 –
5 November 2012
People's Party
for Freedom and
Democracy
Jan Kees de Jager Jan Kees de Jager
(born 1969)
Minister Finance 23 February 2010 –
5 November 2012
[Retained]
Christian
Democratic Appeal
Ivo Opstelten Ivo Opstelten
(born 1944)
Minister Security and
Justice
14 October 2010 –
10 March 2015
[Continued]
People's Party
for Freedom and
Democracy
Hans Hillen Hans Hillen
(born 1947)
Minister Defence 14 October 2010 –
5 November 2012
Christian
Democratic Appeal
Edith Schippers Edith Schippers
(born 1964)
Minister Health, Welfare
and Sport
14 October 2010 –
26 October 2017
[Continued]
People's Party
for Freedom and
Democracy
Henk Kamp Henk Kamp
(born 1952)
Minister Social Affairs and
Employment
14 October 2010 –
5 November 2012
People's Party
for Freedom and
Democracy
Marja van Bijsterveldt Marja van
Bijsterveldt

(born 1961)
Minister Education, Culture
and Science
14 October 2010 –
5 November 2012
Christian
Democratic Appeal
Melanie Schultz van Haegen Melanie Schultz
van Haegen

(born 1970)
Minister Infrastructure and
the Environment
14 October 2010 –
26 October 2017
[Continued]
People's Party
for Freedom and
Democracy
Minister without portfolio Title/Ministry/Portfolio(s) Term of office Party
Gerd Leers Gerd Leers
(born 1951)
Minister Interior and
Kingdom Relations
Immigration
and Asylum
14 October 2010 –
16 December 2011
Christian
Democratic Appeal
Immigration
and Asylum

Integration
Minorities
16 December 2011 –
5 November 2012
State Secretaries Title/Ministry/Portfolio(s) Term of office Party
Ben Knapen Dr.
Ben Knapen
(born 1951)
State Secretary
[Title]
Foreign Affairs • European Union
Benelux
Development
Cooperation
14 October 2010 –
5 November 2012
Christian
Democratic Appeal
Frans Weekers Frans Weekers
(born 1967)
State Secretary Finance Fiscal Policy
Tax and Customs
Governmental
Budget
14 October 2010 –
30 January 2014
[Continued]
People's Party
for Freedom and
Democracy
Fred Teeven Fred Teeven
(born 1958)
State Secretary
[Title]
Security and
Justice
Public
Prosecution

Civil Law
Property Law
Victims' Rights
Judicial Reform
• Youth Justice
Penitentiaries
Debt
• Gambling
[Title]
14 October 2010 –
10 March 2015
[Continued]
People's Party
for Freedom and
Democracy
Henk Bleker Dr.
Henk Bleker
(born 1953)
State Secretary
[Title]
Economic Affairs,
Agriculture and
Innovation
Trade and Export
• Agriculture
Food Policy
• Fisheries
• Forestry
Postal Service
Tourism
Animal Welfare
14 October 2010 –
5 November 2012
Christian
Democratic Appeal
Marlies Veldhuijzen van Zanten Marlies
Veldhuijzen
van Zanten

(born 1953)
State Secretary Health, Welfare
and Sport
Elderly Care
Youth Care
Disability Policy
Medical Ethics
Pharmaceutical
Policy
14 October 2010 –
5 November 2012
Christian
Democratic Appeal
Paul de Krom Paul de Krom
(born 1963)
State Secretary Social Affairs and
Employment
• Social Security
• Unemployment
Occupational
Safety

• Social Services
14 October 2010 –
5 November 2012
People's Party
for Freedom and
Democracy
Halbe Zijlstra Halbe Zijlstra
(born 1969)
State Secretary Education, Culture
and Science
Higher
Education

Adult
Education

Science Policy
Culture
Art
14 October 2010 –
5 November 2012
People's Party
for Freedom and
Democracy
Joop Atsma Joop Atsma
(born 1956)
State Secretary Infrastructure and
the Environment
Aviation
Water
Management

Environmental
Policy

Weather
Forecasting
14 October 2010 –
5 November 2012
Christian
Democratic Appeal
Continued in the next cabinet
Retained from the previous cabinet
Designated with the diplomatic rank of Minister
Appointed as Vice-President of the Council of State

References

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  1. ^ "Mark Rutte: eerste liberale premier sinds 1918" (in Dutch). eenvandaag.nl. 7 October 2010. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  2. ^ "CV | Mark Rutte". rijksoverheid.nl. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  3. ^ "Mark Rutte" (in Dutch). VVD. Archived from the original on 26 July 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  4. ^ (in Dutch) Benoeming Spies tot minister vrijdag verwacht, NOS, 15 December 2011
  5. ^ (in Dutch) Donner naar Raad van State, NOS, 16 December 2011
  6. ^ (in Dutch) 'Spies volgt Donner op in kabinet', NU.nl, 16 December 2011
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Official