Six countries in the European Union are intensifying calls for a bloc-wide windfall tax on oil companies for consumer relief, citing soaring profits.
Finance chiefs from Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Portugal — along with Spain's economy minister — sent a joint letter to Ireland's finance minister, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, pushing for an oil levy be added to the agenda for next month's meeting of EU finance ministers in Dublin, Ireland, Euronews reported.
"Oil companies are enjoying overall profitability and margins on refined products that exceed the rise in crude oil prices," the letter reads. "We are experiencing one of the biggest supply shocks in decades, and all over the world, there is growing discontent about the rise in the cost of living."
Calling on the bloc to draw on lessons from the temporary levy introduced in 2022 after the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the signatories urged debate on an "EU-wide framework to tax windfall profits".
According to a ministry source quoted by Agence France-Presse, Germany's Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil has repeatedly argued that energy companies must not exploit consumers during the current turmoil.
