Netherlands Swears in New Government

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, July 23, 2002

Netherlands Swears in New Government

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Jan Peter Balkenende was sworn in Monday as prime minister of a new center-right Dutch government, with a program tightening restrictions on immigration and scaling back workers' benefits to such an extent that unions warned of strikes.

The 14 ministers and 14 junior ministers of the three-party coalition took the oath of office before Queen Beatrix at her Huis ten Bosch palace in The Hague. The senior ministers emerged for the traditional photograph with the queen on the red-carpeted palace steps.

The ceremony capped a hasty rise in national politics for Balkenende, a 46-year-old professor of economics and Christian philosophy who entered parliament in 1998 and became leader of his party, the Christian Democratic Alliance, 10 months ago.

But trouble arose early, when the new junior minister for social affairs and employment resigned just hours after the swearing in. Philomena Bijlhout admitted she had misrepresented her membership in a militia supporting the military dictatorship in her home country of Suriname 20 years ago.

Bijlhout stepped down after a private Dutch television station, RTL4, reported that she was part of the militia backing the government of Desi Bouterse at a time when the regime was accused of killing 15 opposition journalists, lawyers and politicians in 1982.

Bijlhout had previously admitted joining the militia, but said she had left before the December 1982 killings.

Before the resignation, Balkenende brushed aside concerns that his inexperienced Cabinet would fail to serve out a full four-year term. He said motivation was high and the disparate parties were pulling together into an effective team.

The right-leaning parties were vaulted into power by a backlash against immigration and a perception of rising crime, ousting the reigning alliance of center-left parties led by former Prime Minister Wim Kok in the May 15 election after eight years in office.

It is the first center-right government in 25 years, and follows a period of progressive social policies such as regulating euthanasia, permitting gay marriages and showing tolerance toward soft drugs all policies opposed by Balkenende's CDA.

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