The First Beel cabinet was the executive branch of the Dutch Government from 3 July 1946 until 7 August 1948. The cabinet was formed by the christian-democratic Catholic People's Party (KVP) and the social-democratic Labour Party (PvdA) after the election of 1946. The cabinet was a centre-left^[1] grand coalition and had a substantial majority in the House of Representatives with prominent Catholic politician Louis Beel serving as Prime Minister and dual served as Minister of the Interior continuing from the previous cabinet. Labour Leader Willem Drees continued as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Affairs from the previous cabinet. According to one study, “Beel was of the opinion that a joint KVP-PvdA program should be presented to other political groups. According to Beel, that program should be socio-economically progressive, that is to say reform-oriented in favor of broad layers of the population. The socialists should not have to fear that a conservative wing within the KVP would rule the roost.”^[2]

Quick Facts Date formed, Date dissolved ...

First Beel cabinet
42nd Cabinet of the Netherlands
First meeting of the cabinet at the Ministry of General Affairs on 3 July 1946
Date formed	3 July 1946 (1946-07-03)
Date dissolved	7 August 1948 (1948-08-07) 2 years, 35 days in office (Demissionary from 7 July 1948 (1948-07-07))
People and organisations
Monarch	Queen Wilhelmina
Prime Minister	Louis Beel
Deputy Prime Minister	Willem Drees
No. of ministers	17
Ministers removed	5
Total no. of members	19
Member party	Catholic People's Party (KVP) Labour Party (PvdA)
Status in legislature	Centrist Majority government (Grand coalition/Roman-Red)
History
Election(s)	1946 election
Outgoing election	1948 election
Legislature term(s)	1946–1948
Incoming formation	1946 formation
Outgoing formation	1948 formation
Predecessor	Schermerhorn–Drees cabinet
Successor	Drees–Van Schaik cabinet

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The cabinet served during early years of the post-war 1940s. Domestically the beginning of the recovery and rebuilding following World War II continued with the Marshall Plan, it was also to implement several major social reforms to social security. Internationally the beginning of the decolonization of the Dutch East Indies was continued. The cabinet suffered no major internal and external conflicts. Following a major revision of the constitution a snap election was called to simultaneously elect a new parliament. Following the election the cabinet continued in a demissionary capacity until it was replaced with the Drees–Van Schaik cabinet.^[3][4]

A major issue was the independence of the Dutch East Indies. This required a change in the constitution. In November 1946 the Linggadjati Agreement was signed, but different interpretations led to Dutch military intervention (politionele acties). Under international pressure through the UN, this ended and negotiations restarted, ultimately resulting in the new country Indonesia, but only under the next cabinet, Drees I. An important new law was the 'Noodwet Ouderdomsvoorziening' by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Affairs Willem Drees.

^Resigned

^{Retained from the previous cabinet}

^{Continued in the next cabinet}

^Acting

^{Ad Interim}

^{Ministry renamed}

^{Medical leave of absence from 30 August 1947 until 3 November 1947}

^{Appointed as Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations}

• Six cabinet members had previous experience as scholars or professors: Louis Beel (Administrative Law), Piet Lieftinck (Financial and Business Economics), Jan van den Brink (Public Economics and Economical Statistics), Jos Gielen (Philology and Education Sociology), Johan Ringers (Hydraulic and Structural Engineering) and Joris in 't Veld (Public Administration).
• The age difference between oldest cabinet member Johan Ringers (born 1885) and the youngest cabinet member Jan van den Brink (born 1915) was 30 years, 100 days.
• Louis Beel became the youngest Dutch Prime Minister at the age of 44 years, 82 days, a record that was broken in 1982 by Ruud Lubbers.
• Jan van den Brink became the youngest Dutch Minister at the age of 32 years, 283 days.