Jan Peter Balkenende

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jan Peter Balkenende, 2007

Listen to Jan Pieter Balkenende , called Jan Peter ? / i (born May 7, 1956 in Biezelinge ) is a former Dutch politician ( CDA ). From July 22nd, 2002 to October 14th, 2010 he was Prime Minister of the Netherlands. On June 9, 2010, he announced his retirement from politics. Audio file / audio sample

Life

Balkenende, the eldest son of a trader and a teacher, attended elementary school in Kapelle and a Protestant secondary school in Goes. Balkenende studied social and economic history from 1974 to 1982, then law at the Free University of Amsterdam . After receiving his doctorate in 1992, he taught there as an endowed professor on the subject of “Christian-social thinking about society and the economy”. He married the lawyer Bianca Hoogendijk in 1996 and has a daughter with her.

politics

From 1982 to 1998 Balkenende sat for the CDA in the city council of Amstelveen and was parliamentary group chairman from 1994. From 1984 to 1998 he also worked for the CDA's scientific institute.

In 1998 he was elected to the second chamber of the Dutch parliament for the first time . He became his party's financial policy spokesman and also dealt with social, legal and domestic issues. He was an advocate of a fiscal policy geared towards budget consolidation. On October 1, 2001, he took over the chairmanship of the parliamentary group .

First cabinet 2002/2003

Jan Peter Balkenende with George W. Bush (2004)

Balkenende was the CDA's top candidate for the May 2002 elections. The elections were overshadowed by the murder of the politician Pim Fortuyn ; the CDA regained its position as the strongest party in the Netherlands. Balkenende formed a coalition with the right-wing liberal VVD and Lijst Pim Fortuyn (LPF) . He himself became Prime Minister on July 22, 2002 as the successor to the Social Democrat Wim Kok .

The first cabinet failed after 82 days due to disputes, especially within the LPF, which is why the entire government resigned and new elections were necessary. From these he again emerged as the winner.

Second and Third Cabinet 2003–2007

After Balkenende's attempts at a grand coalition with the Social Democrats had failed, he formed a Christian-liberal coalition with VVD and D66 . The government's priorities were civil service reform, the fight against crime, a more restrictive immigration policy and drastic spending cuts. In doing so, he sometimes met with strong resistance and criticism; the polls for his party and for himself fell significantly. Nevertheless, his party defended its status as the strongest party in the 2004 European elections .

From July 1, 2004 to December 31, 2004 he was chairman of the European Council for half a year during the Dutch presidency .

As a result of the dispute over the naturalization of the women's rights activist Hirsi Ali , D66 left the government, so that the coalition broke up on June 29, 2006. Balkenende then resigned and on July 7, 2006 formed a minority government , his third cabinet, made up of CDA and VVD, which remained in office until the early elections in November 2006 .

Fourth Cabinet 2007–2010

On March 2, 2010, the day before the municipal elections, at the Festival van de local democratie in Amsterdam

In the new elections on November 22, 2006, the CDA emerged as the strongest party despite losses. Almost three months of coalition negotiations with the PvdA and the CU followed . The fourth cabinet beam end was sworn in on February 22, 2007. On the occasion of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the EU, Jan Peter Balkenende reiterated his criticism of the draft European constitutional treaty.

In February 2010, the fourth coalition under Balkenende broke up in the dispute over the continuation of the Dutch involvement in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan . The social democratic PvdA had spoken out against an extension of the mandate in the Uruzgan province , while Balkenende was in favor of a deployment beyond August 2010. The PvdA thereupon announced on February 20, 2010 its withdrawal from the government.

Until the early parliamentary elections on June 9, 2010 , Balkenende remained in office with a minority government. During the election campaign he showed up with a T-shirt with the label “Fuck drugs” on it and replied to a journalist who wanted to urge him to make a coalition statement: “U kijkt zo ran” (“You look so dear.”) Above all the latter met with criticism, Femke Halsema , group leader of the GroenLinks party, said she would have answered that with a kneeling ("knee kick in the groin").

The halving of the CDA faction in that election made him announce his retirement from politics on election evening.

Honors

Web links

Commons : Jan Peter Balkenende  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Jan Peter Balkenende  - Quotes (Dutch)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anniversary: ​​Pope railed against godless EU declaration . Spiegel Online , March 24, 2007.
  2. ↑ Dutch government breaks up because of conflict in Afghanistan . Spiegel Online , February 20, 2010.
  3. ^ Netherlands: early elections on June 9th . The press , February 23, 2010.
  4. ↑ U kijkt zo ran . Trouw , May 28, 2010 (Dutch).
    Beam end bereid dead excuses voor 'U kijkt zo ran'. Volkskrant , May 27, 2010, archived from the original on May 30, 2010 ; Retrieved August 1, 2016 (Dutch).
  5. ↑ Balkenende treedt terug as partijleider . Trouw , June 9, 2010, accessed August 1, 2016 (Dutch).
  6. ↑ Office of the Federal President
personal data
SURNAME Bar end, Jan Peter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bar end, Jan Pieter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch politician (CDA, Prime Minister 2002–2010)
DATE OF BIRTH May 7, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Bending rings