Russian warmongering ruins Dutch success story in Arctic

Dutch companies dredge, drill, sail and haul in the Arctic. The enormous energy projects that Russian state-owned companies are rolling out along the Siberian coast are a particular hotspot for Dutch companies.  The expertise of Shell, Mammoet and Van Oord has been more than welcome in Russia in recent years. The Dutch government supported the …

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Gazprom operates gas pipeline to Turkey and Southern Europe from Amsterdam

The control room of Turk Stream, the southern brother of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, is located above a Coolblue shop on the Amsterdam Zuidas. That the headquarters of Gazprom subsidiary South Stream Transport B.V. was located in the Netherlands was known, but The Investigative Desk and Follow The Money discovered that from …

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Now that the patent has expired, this cancer drug is suddenly 99% cheaper

The patent on the cancer drug Revlimid (lenalidomide) recently expired. Whereas a few weeks ago a pack still cost over 4,500 euros, after generic competition this is now only about 20 euros. This means that Dutch hospitals will save over 130 million euros. Many of the main criticisms of the industry come together in this …

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How Europe is fattening a Dutch pig farmer who doesn’t play by the rules

Giving farmers a reasonable income and ensuring that their farms are environmentally friendly are key objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy, which accounts for the largest share of the European budget. In practice, the support often disappears into the pockets of large, successful livestock farmers whose businesses emit significant amounts of nitrogen, such as pig …

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The art of looking away

We did not know that public health was at risk. So say the ministers responsible for the 2017 decision to keep quiet about the PFOS contamination. In reality, there were numerous signals that there was a risk. These signals were systematically ignored for fifteen years, according to a reconstruction by Knack and journalistic collective The …

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Green EU subsidy made largest Dutch dairy farmer even bigger

Phosphate ceiling or not, Vreba Melkvee, the largest dairy farm in the Netherlands, continued to grow. During an environmental audit early last year, the company exceeded its provincial environmental permit. The municipality and province are aware of this, but shirk their responsibility. Meanwhile, Vreba receives tons of subsidies each year from the European Agricultural Fund, …

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Termination of Gazprom contracts unintentionally boosts Russian treasury’s reserves

Dutch local authorities want to terminate their supply contract with Gazprom. Last year, The Investigative Desk and Follow The Money revealed that over 120 municipalities and almost all water boards buy their gas from the Dutch Gazprom subsidiary in the city of ‘s Hertogenbosch. The fact that these gas payments directly feed the Russian treasury …

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