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".
Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. 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.
The first Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Netherlands government from 22 July 2002 until 27 May 2003. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the nationalistic Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) and the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) after the election of 2002. The cabinet was a right-wing coalition and had a substantial majority in the House of Representatives with Christian Democratic Leader Jan Peter Balkenende serving as Prime Minister. Prominent economist Eduard Bomhoff served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, while prominent Liberal politician Johan Remkes served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations.
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.
Jakob Gijsbert "Jaap" de Hoop Scheffer is a Dutch retired politician, jurist and diplomat who served as the eleventh Secretary General of NATO from January 2004 to August 2009. A member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), which he led from March 1997 to October 2001, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from July 2002 until December 2003 under Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.
Cornelis Pieter "Cees" Veerman is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and economist.
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.
Mark Rutte is a Dutch politician who has served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 2010. He is currently acting in a demissionary capacity, scheduled to leave national politics following the installation of the next cabinet after the 2023 general election. Rutte was the leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) from 2006 through 2023. On 2 August 2022 he became the longest-serving prime minister in the history of the Netherlands.
Joannes Gerardus "Joop" Wijn is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and businessman.
Maxime Jacques Marcel Verhagen is a retired Dutch politician and historian. A member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), he served as Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 2010 to 2012 under Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
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 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.
Cornelis (Cees) van der Knaap is a Dutch politician. He was State Secretary for Defence for the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).
Janneke Marlene "Marja" van Bijsterveldt-Vliegenthart is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). She has been mayor of Delft since 2 September 2016.
Anna Maria Agnes "Agnes" van Ardenne-Van der Hoeven is a retired Dutch politician and diplomat of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).
Catharina Elisabeth Godefrida "Karien" van Gennip is a Dutch businesswoman and politician who has served as Minister of Social Affairs and Employment in the Fourth Rutte cabinet since 10 January 2022. She is a member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).
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 2012 Christian Democratic Appeal leadership election was called to elect the new Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal after incumbent Maxime Verhagen announced his retirement from national politics. Verhagen who had been the acting leader of the party since the resignation of Jan Peter Balkenende on 9 June 2010 did not stand for the leadership election. Sybrand van Haersma Buma the Parliamentary leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal in the House of Representatives beat the other candidates in the first round with 51.4% of the votes.
