Spain and five other European Union (EU) countries are demanding a debate in September on a windfall tax on oil companies’ extraordinary profits. Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland, and Austria have requested that the issue be included on the agenda for the meeting of EU Finance Ministers on September 18 and 19 in Dublin, following the sharp surge in energy prices caused by the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
The ministers consider that the measures adopted so far have failed to stabilize prices and propose creating a European framework to tax the extraordinary profits of oil companies, especially those earned abroad by multinationals.
The proposal would take as a reference the “temporary solidarity contribution” approved in 2022. Furthermore, the six countries demand that the European Commission (EC) accelerate its investigation into refinery margins to determine whether they are taking advantage of the crisis. Since the start of the war with Iran, oil has risen by 25%, while European diesel has increased in price by more than 70% and gasoline by around 20%.
