Former Dutch minister and European commissioner Frits Bolkestein has died at the age of 91.

Bolkestein, who had voted PvdA in his younger days, worked for Shell before being elected an MP on behalf of the VVD in 1977. He was junior economic affairs minister in Ruud Lubbers’ first cabinet and defence minister in the second after a cabinet reshuffle.

In 1990 he became VVD leader and was instrumental in the formation of the first cabinet led by the PvdA’s Wim Kok, although he opted to remain in parliament. From 1999 to 2004, he was European commissioner charged with the internal market and taxation.

Bolkestein’s career was not without controversies. In 2010 he called for the legalization of all drugs in an article in the NRC newspaper entitled “save the nation, allow drugs”, a stance he reiterated in 2020.

Also that year, he suggested that orthodox Jews should leave the Netherlands because of rising anti-semitism in the first of many outspoken comments he made on immigration.

He was also criticised for his financial support for Soumaya Sahla, a convicted terrorist who became an academic and adviser on deradicalisation.

The author of many books, his most recent Bij het scheiden van de markt, about politics and society, was published in 2019.

Considered one of the most influential Dutch politicians in his heyday, Bolkestein died in Laren in the Rosa Spier Huis care home, where he had lived for several years.