Drees–Van Schaik (7 August 1948 – 15 March 1951), under prime minister Willem Drees and deputy prime minister Josef van Schaik, consisted of ministers of PvdA, KVP, VVD and CHU and two independent ministers. This cabinet is sometimes also enumerated as Drees I, but Drees I generally refers to the following cabinet.
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 December 1949). In 1948 a second politionele actie (litt: politional action, but actually a military intervention) 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.