Dutch PM survives motion of no confidence

Jan Peter Balkenende has enough support in parliament to stay in office, but his problems are far from over.

For the first time in Dutch parliamentary history on Tuesday, a prime minister was confronted with a motion of no confidence that targeted him personally. Opposition members of parliament accused Jan Peter Balkenende of undermining public trust in the government.

The Christian democratic prime minister survived the motion though, as a majority of the lower house still supports him: the motion was rejected 96 to 40.

Tuesday's parliamentary debate over the findings of a special committee that investigated the reasoning behind the Dutch support for the US led invasion of Iraq in 2003 was special for another reason. The meeting closed the book on the issue after seven years, sixteen debates and ten motions that asked for an inquiry into the Dutch involvement and the Davids report that resulted from it.

Ten hours of debate showed a reluctant prime minister, bitterness and frustration on the part of the opponents of the war and a total lack of rapprochement between the two camps. Finally, they agreed to disagree.

Reluctant and cryptic

Last month, a committee led by former judge Willibrord Davids concluded Balkenende's first cabinet supplied inaccurate and incomplete information to parliament on a number of occasions in 2002 and the government supported the war without "an adequate legal pretext under international law". Balkenende was reluctant and cryptic in confirming the committee's conclusions and the opposition was not satisfied by his final acceptance of the report. The no-confidence motion that followed Tuesday stated Balkenende "both in office and in person had the primary political responsibility" for the supplying parliament with information.

Opposition party leaders Femke Halsema (Green party GroenLinks), Alexander Pechtold (left-wing liberal D66) and Agnes Kant (Socialist Party) said the prime minister had undermined public trust in democracy in general and the government in particular.

Balkenende showed he still has a hard time accepting Davids' conclusions, but did admit there were "imperfections" in the way his first cabinet had dealt with the issue. However, he refused to say that, in retrospect, he would have done things differently. The prime minister gave parliament a lecture on the constitutional meaning of his ministerial responsibility and said he could not undo or "review" the decision-making of the time.

New bomb under the coalition

Coalition party Labour, which was in the opposition during the invasion and has always opposed it, was satisfied with the prime minister’s explanation. Although the annoyance with his actions could be read from the faces of some of the parliamentarians.

On Wednesday, however, the party placed a new bomb under the coalition. Labour demanded the cabinet - which is made up of ministers from the Christian democratic CDA, Labour and orthodox Christians ChristenUnie - confirm its decision to withdraw from Uruzgan this year. The Netherlands' troops will be deployed in the Afghan province until December, but Nato has requested they stay for another year.

CDA has expressed willingness to comply with Nato's wish and keep a smaller mission in the province. Labour leader Wouter Bos said Wednesday he wants to "keep the promise to voters" and withdraw completely. He and foreign minister Maxime Verhagen bickered about the issue last week, and now Bos wants the cabinet's confirmation by Friday.