He sought bigger cuts than his party would accept, and in February 1980 tendered his resignation, precipitating a cabinet crisis that forced Queen Juliana to interrupt a holiday in Austria.

In November 1980 Andriessen was nominated by Prime Minister Dries van Agt as the next European Commissioner in the Thorn Commission, and secured the heavy portfolios of Competition and Parliamentary Relations, taking office on 6 January 1981.

As European Commissioner for Competition, Andriessen targeted restrictive practices, with the vastly differing prices of new cars in member states a priority.

[2] But he came under fire from Socialist MEPs for blocking legislation on worker participation after objections from Shell and Unilever, and from British members for suggesting that Ravenscraig steelworks should be closed.

With Gaston Thorn stepping down at the end of 1984, Andriessen was canvassed as a potential president of the Commission, but Jacques Delors had the big battalions behind him.

Andriessen's consolation was the First Vice-Presidency and the portfolio of Agriculture and Fisheries, Brussels' toughest, in the Delors Commission, taking office on 6 January 1985.

Andriessen blamed Britain, accusing Michael Jopling, Minister of Agriculture, of disobeying an "order" to change export arrangements for sheep meat.

But that summer he accused America of "harassing" European steel producers for alleged dumping; then France demanded fresh concessions for its farmers.

Andriessen left Brussels at the turn of the year confident that a full agreement ranging from textiles to intellectual property could be achieved – as it was, enabling the WTO to come into being.

This could bring him into trying company: at a symposium in Copenhagen in 1993 he was incandescent when Sir Alan Walters, former economic adviser to Margaret Thatcher, suggested the Germans could put a portrait of Hitler on a single European currency.

Andriessen was known for his abilities as a skilful negotiator and effective consensus builder and continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until his is death in March 2019 at the age of 89.