A member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), he served as Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management from 2007 to 2010.

After the general election of 2006, Eurlings was asked to become Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management in the Fourth Balkenende cabinet, serving from 22 February 2007 until 14 October 2010.

At that moment he already was elected as youngest member of the Netherlands National Parliament (Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal).

Under his responsibility the commercial integration of Full Freight company Martinair and Air France – KLM Cargo was effectuated.

[1][2] In 2014, fellow Dutch executives elected Eurlings as 'Best Manager 2014',[3] followed by Frans van Houten (Philips) and Dick Boer (Ahold).

[4] Eurlings served as a Member of the Alliance Steering Committee of the Board of Directors of GOL Airlines (Brazil) in 2013 and 2014.

[citation needed] In June 2015, Eurlings added to his LinkedIn page that he had been a member of the board of directors of American Express Global Business Travel since January 2015.