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. 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. 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. 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.{{cite news |work=Euractiv ==2010 election and resignation==