Faced with this scenario, several municipalities in the Netherlands asked the Government to temporarily exempt them from the sanctions of the European Union (EU) against Moscow for its special military operation in Ukraine.
“The energy situation will be very, very difficult for us in the future. The challenge is to provide electricity to our citizens and businesses. It will not be easy, it will take unity, but we are working to fix this”, Hoekstra told reporters at a meeting of European foreign ministers.
Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, the West has increased penalties on Russia, causing electricity, fuel and food prices to rise in Europe and the United States.
Imports of Russian liquefied natural gas from the Netherlands rose 57 percent in the first six months of this year, most coming from Russia and the United States, according to data from the Dutch Central Statistics Office.
The volume of that fuel purchased from those two countries doubled compared to last year, from 2.1 billion cubic meters to 4.1 billion cubic meters, of which 35 percent came from the Eurasian nation, assured the statistics entity.
During the first half of this year, the Netherlands consumed 17.6 billion cubic meters of gas, 25 percent less than in the first half of 2021.
Media reported that the Dutch city of The Hague will request a temporary exemption from EU sanctions against Russia, until January 1, 2023, while the Russian gas supplier, Gazprom, is replaced, although so far no attempts have been successful.
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