For a while Mr Zalm's party was led by an even more formidable critic of Brussels, Frits Bolkestein.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne: Going Dutch | The

Owning an island requires a lot of commitment, says Frits Hannenberg, who manages small island resorts for absent owners.

ECONOMIST: Private islands

French voters may have objected to the arrival of Polish plumbers under liberalisation pushed by a Dutch commissioner, Frits Bolkestein.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

But EU Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, who is in charge of the internal market reforms, said he was angered by the change of heart.

BBC: EU savings tax deal collapses

But his coalition partners on the right, the free-market Liberals under the punchier Frits Bolkestein, also did better than before, coming second with 25%.

ECONOMIST: The Netherlands

Frits Bolkestein, a Dutch free-marketeer of Eurosceptical outlook (by Dutch standards), would be a tough commissioner for competition, one of the few posts that really matter, if he gets it.

ECONOMIST: The European Commission: New broom sweeps half-clean | The

Frits Bolkestein, the single-market commissioner (a post that Britain covets), has said that Franco-German calls for a return of industrial policy made him feel he was living in a 1970s time-warp.

ECONOMIST: The European Commission presidency