Through lack of means he was compelled to patch up a temporary peace (February 5, 1556) with the French king at Vaucelles, and to take steps to reorganise his finances.
One of Philip's first acts was the appointment of Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, to the post vacated by his aunt Mary; but it was a position, as long as the king remained in the Netherlands, of small responsibility.

Early in 1556 he summoned the States-General to Brussels and asked for a grant of 1,300,000 florins.

The taxes proposed were disapproved by the principal provinces and eventually refused.

Philip was very much annoyed, but was compelled to modify his proposals and accept what was offered by the delegates.

There was indeed from the very outset no love lost between the new ruler and his Netherland subjects.
Philip had spent nearly all his life in Spain, where he had received his education and early training, and he had grown up to manhood, in the narrowest sense of the word, a Spaniard.