Drees–Van Schaik cabinet
The Drees–Van Schaik cabinet, also called the First Drees cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 7 August 1948 until 15 March 1951. The cabinet was formed by the political parties Catholic People's Party, Labour Party, Christian Historical Union and the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy after the election of 1948. The grand coalition cabinet was a majority cabinet in the House of Representatives.Term
This coalition had a 76% representation in the second chamber of parliament. It had to have a broad basis for the change in constitution that was required to make the Dutch East Indies independent, resulting in the new country Indonesia. In 1948 a second politionele actie was embarked upon, but ended under international pressure. The rejection of a VVD-motion over New Guinea in 1951 led to the fall of the cabinet. However, no elections were held and a new cabinet was formed with the same parties, Drees I.
In 1949, the Netherlands entered the NATO. In the same year several alterations of the German border took place.
