While several MEPs called for the introduction of taxing windfall profits of energy companies, others highlighted a structural problem during the plenary debate on Wednesday, 6 July (see EUROPE 12956/7).
MEP Marc Botenga (The Left, Belgium) protested, calling energy companies’ excess profits a “hold-up on citizens’ wallets” and added that “ any excess profit is unacceptable”. On the same page, Aurore Lalucq (S&D, France) denounced the fact that these profits are made “at the expense of the ecology, of citizens who are struggling to make ends meet, of scarcity and war”. “These are not windfall profits, but abnormal, disturbing and unacceptable”, she said.
Following the example of southern European countries such as Spain and Italy, which have already introduced such taxation, she urged Member States to do the same, otherwise it would be “morally wrong and unfair”.
Rasmus Andresen (Greens/EFA, Germany) defended his party’s proposal to tax these profits at a rate of 20%, with the proceeds going to green and renewable energy. He called the current situation “unfair and dangerous”, as “these profits are the engine of inflation”.
Markus Ferber (EPP, Germany), on the other hand, did not consider this to be a problem. According to him, there is a need for “a reasonable system with the minimum taxation on companies provided for by the OECD agreement”, (see other article). “If there is a need for investment, companies must have the means to invest”, he said. “The problems of gas companies are more about losses than profits”, he added.
Paolo Borchia (ID, Italy) and Antoni Comín I Oliveres (non-attached, Spain) criticised the European energy policy that has been in force for several years. “With this tax, we risk making the situation worse, we must act at the structural level”, insisted Mr Borchia. “Today, the one who has the power to negotiate is the one who sells, not the one who buys”, he added. Comín I Oliveres added that “this tax is a step in the right direction, but it is a temporary measure”.
Representing the Czech Presidency of the EU Council, Foreign Minister Mikuláš Bek said that “the Czech Presidency is of the view that taxing windfall profits of energy companies is indeed among the tax measures that could be considered in a context where both households and companies are suffering greatly”.
Věra Jourová, Vice-President of the European Commission for Values, insisted that the revenue generated from the tax should be used to support vulnerable consumers. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)