Editing Jan Peter Balkenende (section)

===Second cabinet===
{{Main|Second Balkenende cabinet}}
After early elections in 2003, Balkenende formed his [[Second Balkenende cabinet|second government]] with the [[Christian Democratic Appeal]] (CDA), the liberal [[People's Party for Freedom and Democracy]] (VVD) and the [[Progressivism|progressive]] liberal [[Democrats 66|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. The measures gave rise to large public anger and bad results in opinion polls for his CDA party. While his party remained the largest Dutch delegation in the [[European Parliament]] after the [[2004 European Parliament election|European elections]], beating the general expectation of a huge loss in parliamentary seats, the party suffered strong losses during [[2006 Dutch municipal elections|Dutch municipal elections of 2006]], losing their position as the largest party in many municipalities. Despite his unpopularity among Dutch voters (polls in 2006 showed that only 26–33% of the voters had confidence in him as prime minister), his position as leader of the CDA remained stable. In the beginning of 2006, some CDA members tried to replace Balkenende as leader with Agriculture Minister [[Cees Veerman]]. Veerman did not accept the proposition and offered his support to Balkenende. Balkenende's popularity recovered since then, surpassing that of his main competitor [[Wouter Bos]] in the autumn of 2006. By then, 53% preferred Balkenende as Prime Minister of the Netherlands while 40% preferred Bos.<ref>{{cite news|title=Balkenende als premier populairder dan Bos |url=http://www.elsevier.nl/nieuws/politiek/nieuwsbericht/asp/artnr/114307/index.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20080210021601/http://www.elsevier.nl/nieuws/politiek/nieuwsbericht/asp/artnr/114307/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 February 2008 |publisher=[[Elsevier (magazine)|Elsevier]] |date=10 September 2006 |language=nl }}</ref> The switch in public opinion is sometimes explained by the steady recovery of the Dutch economy during the last year of his administration and the positive effects of the reformed policy of the Balkenende cabinet, combined with declining confidence in Bos as a good alternative for the position of prime minister.

On 1 July 2004, Balkenende took up the rotating presidency of the [[European Union]].