The Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (Dutch : Ministerie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieu or VROM) was a Dutch ministry. It was responsible for policies on public housing, spatial planning, the environment and the housing of national government agencies. It was merged with the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management into the new Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment on 14 October 2010.
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The Ministry of VROM was established as the ministry of Reconstruction and Public Housing (Dutch: Wederopbouw en Volkshuisvesting) in 1947, to coordinate the reconstruction of the Netherlands after the Second World War. Its main goal in this period was to build enough housing. In 1958 the ministry was renamed Public Housing and Construction Industry (Dutch: Volkshuisvesting en Bouwnijverheid).
In the 1965 the ministry was renamed Public Housing and Spatial Planning (Dutch: Volkshuisvesting en Ruimtelijke Ordening). Spatial planning and land management became more important. The high level of population growth in the densely populated Netherlands made centralized coordination of land use necessary. The ministry began to publish coordinate the land use policies of provinces and municipalities. Urban renewal also became an important issue for the ministry.
In 1982 the ministry was renamed Public Housing and Spatial Planning and the Environment. The environment has previously been a part of the portfolio of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. With rising environmental consciousness the environment became the most important issue for the ministry. The ministry also bears responsibility for international environmental policy. Since 2006 the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency is an agency of this ministry.
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The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy. A constitutional monarchy, the country is organised as a decentralised unitary state. The Netherlands can be described as a consociational state. Dutch politics and governance are characterised by a common striving for broad consensus on important issues, within both of the political community and society as a whole.
The Christian Union is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. The CU is a centrist party, maintaining more progressive stances on economic, immigration and environmental issues while holding more socially conservative positions on issues such as abortion and euthanasia. The party describes itself as "social Christian".
The Christian Democratic Appeal is a Christian-democratic and socially conservative political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary Party and the Christian Historical Union; it has participated in all but three cabinets since it became a unitary party.
The second Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 27 May 2003 until 7 July 2006. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), and the social-liberal Democrats 66 (D66) after the election of 2003. The cabinet was a centre-right coalition and had a slim majority in the House of Representatives with Christian Democratic Leader Jan Peter Balkenende serving as Prime Minister. Liberal Leader Gerrit Zalm, a former Minister of Finance, served as Deputy Prime Minister and returned as Minister of Finance, while former Progressive-Liberal Leader Thom de Graaf served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister without Portfolio for the Interior.
General elections were held in the Netherlands on 22 November 2006, following the fall of the Second Balkenende cabinet. The election proved relatively successful for the governing Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) which remained the largest party with 41 seats, a loss of only three seats. The largest increase in seats was for the Socialist Party (SP), which went from nine to 25 seats. The main opposition party, the social democratic Labour Party (PvdA) lost nine of its 42 seats, while the right-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the progressive liberal Democrats 66 lost a considerable portion of their seats, six of 28 and three of six, respectively. New parties, such as the right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV) of former VVD MP Geert Wilders and the animal rights party Party for the Animals (PvdD) were also successful, with the PVV winning nine seats and the PvdD winning two, thereby becoming the first animal rights group to enter a European parliament.
The Third Lubbers cabinet, also called the Lubbers–Kok cabinet, was the executive branch of the Dutch government from 7 November 1989 to 22 August 1994. The cabinet was formed the christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the social-democratic Labour Party (PvdA) after the election of 1989. The cabinet was a centrist grand coalition and had a substantial majority in the House of Representatives with Christian-Democratic Leader Ruud Lubbers serving as Prime Minister. Labour Leader Wim Kok served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
The Second Lubbers cabinet was the executive branch of the Dutch Government from 14 July 1986 until 7 November 1989. The cabinet was a continuation of the previous First Lubbers cabinet and was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) after the election of 1986. The cabinet was a centre-right coalition and had a substantial majority in the House of Representatives with Christian-Democratic Leader Ruud Lubbers serving Prime Minister. Former Liberal Leader Rudolf de Korte the Minister of the Interior in the previous cabinet served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs.
The third Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 7 July 2006 until 22 February 2007. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) after the fall of the second Balkenende cabinet. The caretaker rump cabinet was a centre-right coalition and had a minority in the House of Representatives with Christian Democratic Leader Jan Peter Balkenende serving as Prime Minister. Former Liberal Leader Gerrit Zalm continued as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance.
Pieter Winsemius is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businessman.
Following the 2006 Dutch general election, held on November 22, a process of cabinet formation started, involving negotiations about which coalition partners to form a common programme of policy and to divide the posts in cabinet. On February 22, 2007 it resulted in the formation of the Fourth Balkenende cabinet.
The 2003 Dutch cabinet formation concerned the formation of a new cabinet after the 2003 Dutch general election held on January 22, 2003. It involved negotiations about which coalition partners would form a common programme of policy and it involved the division of the cabinet posts. After severe disagreements in the formation of a CDA-PvdA cabinet, a CDA-VVD-D66 cabinet was formed on May 27, 2003, with Balkenende as prime minister.
The fourth Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 22 February 2007 until 14 October 2010. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and Christian Union (CU) and the social-democratic Labour Party (PvdA) after the election of 2006. The cabinet was a centrist grand coalition and had a slim majority in the House of Representatives with Christian Democratic Leader Jan Peter Balkenende serving as prime minister. Labour Leader Wouter Bos served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance while Social Christian Leader André Rouvoet served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister without Portfolio for Health, Welfare and Sport.
Jacqueline Marian Cramer is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and biologist.
Enneüs "Inne" Heerma was a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and management consultant.
Yvonne Catharina Maria Theresia van Rooy is a retired Dutch politician and diplomat of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and businesswoman.
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.
