Frits Bolkestein

Frits Bolkestein (born 4 April 1933) is a Dutch politician and a former EU Commissioner.

1990s

 * In a radical democracy in which everybody should be able to co-decide, not everyone meets the [criteria of] competence, preparedness to serve the common interest and economic independence. That's why this form should be rejected. Every four years, the citizen can give his judgement on government policy in all openness, and in this manner have influence. For this, it is necessary however that the citizen is well informed. That is a task of the government.
 * Lecture at the University of Amsterdam (11 March 1997)

2000s

 * If we fail in our efforts to achieve harmonisation of patent law relating to computer-implemented inventions in the European Union, we may well be confronted with a renegotiation of the European Patent Convention. The process of renegotiating the European Patent Convention would not require any contribution from this Parliament.
 * Speech to the European Parliament (23 September 2003)


 * The USA will remain the only superpower. China is becoming an economic giant. Europe is being Islamicized.
 * Address at the opening of courses at the University of Leiden (2004), as quoted in "Islamic Europe?" (4 October 2004), by Christopher Caldwell, The Weekly Standard