'Energy firms should not exploit consumers' – 6 European countries demand tax on oil company profits
Six European Union countries have stepped up calls for a tax on oil companies' windfall profits, arguing that the energy sector's profit surge is happening at a time of major supply shocks and rising costs of living.
The Finance Ministers of Germany, Italy, Austria, Poland and Portugal, along with the Spanish Economy Minister, have sent a letter to the Irish Finance Minister, whose country holds the current EU presidency.
In the letter, the ministers request that the issue of a possible tax on oil companies' windfall profits be included on the agenda of the next meeting of EU finance ministers, to be held in Dublin.
According to the signatories, oil companies are benefiting from rising margins on refined products, while the world is facing one of the biggest supply shocks in recent decades.
The ministers call for the discussion of an "EU-level framework for the taxation of windfall profits", also referring to the experience of 2022, when a temporary tax on windfall profits in the energy sector was imposed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil has repeatedly supported the idea that energy companies should not profit excessively at the expense of consumers during periods of crisis. According to a source from the German ministry, excess profits generated by the crisis should be returned to consumers.
Calls for such a measure have strengthened after the rise in profits of major energy companies, at a time when military tensions in the Middle East have affected maritime transport and energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.
However, the European Union has not yet signaled a concrete plan for imposing a new tax at the bloc level.
The initiative also faces political opposition in some member states. In Germany, for example, the Social Democrats (SPD), of which Klingbeil is a member, support the tax, while Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU is against it.
The discussion is expected to return to the spotlight at the upcoming meeting of EU finance ministers in Dublin.
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