The cabinet served in the early years of the turbulent 1980s. Domestically it had to deal with the 1980s recession and a growing inflation but it was able to implement a major social reform to social security. The cabinet suffered several major internal conflicts between the cabinet members of the Christian Democratic Appeal and the Labour Party, especially the poor working relationship between Prime Minister Van Agt and Deputy Prime Minister Den Uyl which lead to the fall of the cabinet just 243 days into its term on 12 May 1982 with the Labour Party cabinet members resigning on 29 May 1982 and the cabinet was replaced with the caretakerThird Van Agt cabinet.[3]
Formation
Composition of the cabinet in relation to the rest of the legislature
Many incidents made a healthy coalition impossible. Prime Minister Dries van Agt (CDA) had much trouble with Deputy Prime Minister Joop den Uyl (PvdA). Den Uyl tried to create employment as Minister of Social Affairs but plans to reform the health insurance was met with a huge resistance from the left-wing. The cabinet fell because the Christian Democrats wanted a cut in government spending, while the Labour Party opposed it.
Four cabinet members (later) served as Party Leaders and Lijsttrekkers: Dries van Agt (1976–1982) of the Christian Democratic Appeal, Joop den Uyl (1966–1986) of the Labour Party, Jan Terlouw (1973–1982) and Hans van Mierlo (1966–1973, 1986–1998) of the Democrats 66.
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