BRUSSELS - Foreign minister Stef Blok has informed his colleagues from the other member states of the European Union about the treaty concluded with the United States on the use of Curaçao as a logistics hub for the transport of American relief supplies to Venezuela.

The minister has done this at the European Foreign Affairs Council held earlier this week in Brussels. Blok has, he says in a letter to the Lower House, "underlined the humanitarian nature".

In the EU Council, the Netherlands again argued for additional sanctions against the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, but a decision was not taken. A working group that is part of the International Contact Group (ICG) of the EU, of which the Netherlands is a part, will be visiting Venezuela this week to investigate the possibilities for humanitarian assistance. Blok has emphasized in Brussels "it remains important to step up the pressure on the Maduro regime in parallel with the ICG initiative, for example through additional sanctions."