Six EU Countries Push for Windfall Tax on Oil Companies

Six EU countries want the bloc to discuss a mechanism for taxing oil companies’ windfall profits generated by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland and Austria have asked Ireland, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, to put the issue on the agenda of the next meeting of EU finance ministers in Dublin on 18 and 19 September.

"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", the ministers wrote in a letter seen by Reuters. They said government measures taken so far had failed to permanently reduce or stabilize prices for businesses and consumers.

Oil prices have risen by around 25% since the US and Israel launched their war against Iran on 28 February. European diesel prices have climbed by more than 70%, while gasoline prices have increased by around 20%.

The ministers are therefore proposing an EU-wide framework for taxing windfall profits, drawing on lessons from a similar measure introduced in 2022. They also want to examine how the foreign profits of multinational oil companies could be included in a more targeted way.

(Reuters, bak)