Jan Peter Balkenende

Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (, ; born 7 May 1956) 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.

Jan Pieter Balkenende Jr. was born on 7 May 1956 in Biezelinge in the province of Zeeland in a family belonging to the Reformed faith, the son of Jan Pieter Balkenende Sr. a cereal grains merchant and Thona Johanna Sandee, a teacher.

During his childhood, Balkenende was an active supporter of the Dutch football team PSV Eindhoven, along with his father he frequented many matches.

He also regularly visited the local music school and theatre.

Balkenende went to a Reformed Protestant primary school in Kapelle.

He attended secondary school at the "Christian Lyceum for Zeeland" in Goes, graduating in 1974.

He studied at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam where he received an MA degree in history in 1980, subsequently an LLM degree in Dutch law in 1982, and finally a PhD in law in 1992.

Balkenende resides with his wife, Bianca Hoogendijk, and his daughter, Amelie, in Capelle aan den IJssel.

During his tenure as Prime Minister, he did not use the Catshuis, the formal residency of the Prime Minister.

He began his career on the staff of the research institute of the CDA and as a city councilman in Amstelveen.

As a councilman, he proposed the Krokettenmotie which gave council members the right to a croquette if the council went past 23:00 and it was passed.

In 1992, he received his PhD with a thesis on "Governance regulation and social organisations" (Overheidsregelgeving en maatschappelijke organisaties), which was strongly inspired by the Communitarian ideas of Amitai Etzioni.

Balkenende studied History and Law at the Free University Amsterdam obtaining Master of Arts and law degrees and worked as a legal counsel for the academic council of his alma mater before finishing his thesis and graduated as a PhD in governmental studies and worked as a professor of Christian theology at his alma mater from April 1993 until May 2002.

One year later in 1993, he became an extraordinary professor of Christian-Social Thought at the Free University of Amsterdam.

After the election of 1998, Balkenende was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives on 19 May 1998 and served as a frontbencher and spokesperson for Finances and as deputy parliamentary leader.

Balkenende first entered the House of Representatives on 19 May 1998 while the CDA was in opposition.

He became the CDA's financial spokesman and was also involved with social affairs, justice, and domestic affairs.

In this role, he advocated a substantial reduction of the national debt and sound public finances.

After Party Leader and Parliamentary leader, Jaap De Hoop Scheffer stepped down before an upcoming election Balkenende announced his candidacy and was selected as his successor on 1 October 2001.

He was elected Chairman of the CDA parliamentary fraction on 1 October 2001, succeeding Jaap De Hoop Scheffer.

On 3 November 2001, he was appointed lijsttrekker for the CDA in the tumultuous May 2002 parliamentary elections.

These elections restored the CDA's former position as the largest political party in the House of Representatives.

For the election of 2002, Balkenende served as Lijsttrekker (top candidate) and after a cabinet formation with the Pim Fortuyn List and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy formed the Cabinet Balkenende I and became Prime Minister of the Netherlands taking office 22 July 2002.

The cabinet Balkenende I fell just 87 days into its term.

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.

For the election of 2003, Balkenende again served as Lijsttrekker and following a cabinet formation with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and Democrats 66, they formed the Cabinet Balkenende II and continued as Prime Minister.

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.

This second cabinet fell on 30 June 2006 and was replaced with the caretaker Cabinet Balkenende III on 7 July 2006.

For the election of 2006, Balkenende once again served as Lijsttrekker and following a cabinet formation with Labour Leader Wouter Bos and fellow Christian-democrats, formed the Cabinet Balkenende IV and continued as Prime Minister for another term.

This fourth cabinet fell exactly 3 years into its term.

During his premiership, his cabinets were responsible for several major reforms to the education system, immigration laws and reducing the deficit following the financial crisis of 2008.

He is the fourth longest-serving Prime Minister after World War II and his premiership is consistently regarded both by scholars and the public to have been above average.

Balkenende was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 14 October 2022 exactly twelve years after leaving office.

Since Dries van Agt's death in February 2024, he is the only living former Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

For the election of 2010, Balkenende once again served as Lijsttrekker but suffered a large defeat and announced his retirement and stepped down as Leader on 9 June 2010.

Balkenende left office following the installation of the Cabinet Rutte I on 14 October 2010.

Balkenende retired from active politics at 54 and became active in the private sector as a corporate director and also works as a professor of Governance, Institutions and Internationalization at the Erasmus University Rotterdam since December 2010.