Key facts
- Six EU countries want to discuss taxing oil company windfall profits in September.
- The proposal is a response to supply shocks and rising energy prices.
- Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland, and Austria are signatories to the request.
- The ministers seek an EU-wide framework to tax these profits, considering foreign earnings.
- They also want an investigation into refiners' margins to ensure fair pricing.
Six European Union member states have formally requested that the bloc discuss a mechanism to tax the windfall profits of oil companies during a finance ministers' meeting scheduled for September. The initiative, detailed in a letter to Ireland, which currently holds the EU presidency, comes in response to significant energy price spikes attributed to supply shocks, including the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland, and Austria are urging the Irish presidency to place the issue on the agenda for the EU finance ministers' meeting in Dublin from September 18-19. The ministers highlighted the severity of the current supply shock and the growing public discontent over the rising cost of living, stating that existing government measures have been insufficient to stabilize prices.
In their letter, the finance ministers emphasized the need for a common approach to ensure that companies profiting from the crisis contribute to easing the burden on the public. They proposed discussing an EU-wide framework for taxing windfall profits, with a specific focus on incorporating the foreign profits of multinational oil companies. The ministers also called for the prompt release of findings from a European investigation into refiners' margins to ensure they are not exploiting the current energy price surge.