Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende on Tuesday night survived opposition efforts to pass a no confidence motion in him, following the publication of a critical report on the Netherlands’ involvement in Iraq.

Balkenende came under strong attack during Tuesday’s debate on the Davids report. The report said parliament had not been kept properly informed about developments in the run up to the invasion and that the Netherlands had slavishly followed US and British claims about weapons of mass destruction.
The report also stated that UN resolutions had not provided an adequate legal mandate for the invasion.
Balkenende was prime minister at the time of the Iraq war in 2003.
Retrospective
During the debate Balkenende continued to state that the then-cabinet had made ‘clear and honest’ decisions. And, he pointed out, those decisions were supported by a majority of MPs at the time. The Netherlands supported the war politically but did not send troops.
‘This cabinet cannot take the 2003 decisions all over again and cannot be the previous cabinet’s critic,’ he said. And Balkenende said, he did not feel he had kept MPs in the dark about events.
The no confidence motion was supported by all the oppositon parties except the fundamentalist Christian grouping SGP.
It is the second time in six months Balkenende has survived a no confidence motion.
For an opinion piece on this by Giles Scott-Smith, click here