Jan Peter Balkenende
Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende (May 7, 1956) is a Dutch politician, who was Prime Minister of his country from July 22, 2002 to October 14, 2010.
Biography
Jan Piter Balkenende was born on May 7, 1956 in Biezelinge, Zealand. His father, Jan Pieter Balkenende, was a cereal grain trader and his mother, Thona Johanna Sandee, was a teacher. He is married to Bianca Hoogendijk and has a daughter.
Balkenende attended a Protestant primary school in Kapelle, continuing studies at the "Christian Lyceum for Zeeland" in Goes, graduating in 1974. She then studied at the Free University of Amsterdam, where she obtained an M.A. in history in 1980, and the degree LL.M. in Law in 1982, she finally obtained a PhD in Law in 1992.
Political career
Prime Minister
Balkenende served as Prime Minister in four cabinets. The first, made up of his own Christian Democratic Call (CDA), the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) fell after three months due to internal disputes in the LPF. After new elections in January 2003, he formed a cabinet made up of the CDA, the VVD and the Democrats 66 (D66), which fell on June 30, 2006, when D66 withdrew its support because of the office of Rita Verdonk, the minister immigration and integration. After this government crisis, the third cabinet was formed. A minority cabinet with only the CDA and the VVD. In the elections of November 22, his party lost 3 seats, but maintained its position as the first force. The Balkenende IV Cabinet was composed of the CDA, the PvdA and the CU.
As prime minister, Balkenende supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
European Union
During the second half of 2004, he held the presidency of the Council of the European Union. Turkey's accession to the Union and the budget for the period 2007-2013 were the great challenges of the Dutch presidency of the organization.
Balkenende warned the European Union not to impose additional barriers to the start of negotiations with Turkey. In his speech in front of the European Parliament he demanded to apply the defined criteria strictly without trying to add new clauses.
- Referendum in the European Constitution
The Referendum on the European Constitution in the Netherlands was a consultative referendum held on 1 June 2005 to decide whether the Netherlands would ratify the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. The vote was the first national referendum for more than two hundred years and was not binding, which would mean that, even though the electorate rejected the Constitution, it could be theoretically ratified by the General States. However, the government argued that it would respect a decisive result, provided by a number of voters that exceeded 30%. Official results showed that 61.5 per cent of voters rejected the Constitution, with an electoral participation of 63.3 per cent.
Possible responses were Voor (please) and ♪ (against). In some voting places in the big cities, it was also possible to make a blank vote. In the latter case, the vote did not have for the final result, but allowed the voters an affirmative abstention.
The referendum took place just three days after the French referendum which also resulted in the rejection of the Constitution. Because all member states of the European Union needed to ratify the treaty to enter into effect, some[chuckles]Who?] They saw the Dutch referendum as irrelevant; however, the supporters of the "Yes" appealed to the electorate to prevent damaging the reputation of the Netherlands in Europe, in the same way as the French result was perceived in some sectors of having weakened France's position.[chuckles]required] Before the plebiscite, many[chuckles]Who?] "No" advocates said that the French rejection of the treaty would encourage Dutch voters to follow this path. A second "no" vote in a referendum in one of the founding countries of the European integration project was widely seen as sufficient to put down the treaty.[chuckles]required] The polls of opinion in the days before the referendum gave a clear victory to the "No" campaign.[chuckles]required]Contenido relacionado
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