Demands are growing across Europe for the introduction of an EU-wide windfall tax targeting oil companies that have reaped massive profits from the Middle East war.
According to AFP on the 22nd local time, economic ministers from six EU member states—Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Austria, and Portugal—urged that the issue of imposing a windfall tax be discussed as an agenda item at the upcoming EU finance ministers meeting to be held in Dublin, Ireland, next month.
In a joint letter sent to the Irish finance minister, who holds the rotating presidency of the EU, they stated, "Oil companies are enjoying refined product margins and overall profitability that exceed the rise in crude oil prices," and demanded the initiation of discussions on an EU-wide excess profit taxation system targeting them.
Pointing out in the letter that "we are experiencing one of the largest supply shocks in decades, with growing public dissatisfaction worldwide over rising living costs," they emphasized that lessons learned from the introduction of similar measures in 2022, shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, should be reflected.
In connection with this, a German government official told AFP that German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil has repeatedly stressed that energy companies must not "rip off" consumers by capitalizing on the current crisis, adding, "Excess profits generated during a crisis should be returned to consumers."
As crude oil prices surged due to restricted passage through the Strait of Hormuz—a major oil shipping route—following the outbreak of the Middle East war in late February, European energy companies such as France's TotalEnergies and Norway's state-owned oil and gas company Equinor posted massive earnings, with their profits soaring in the second quarter.
Consequently, voices calling for a tax on the excess profits of oil companies have erupted in major European countries since the immediate aftermath of the Middle East war, but the EU has not yet expressed an intention to impose a windfall tax on oil companies.
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