A European Commission spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday 7 April that the Commission was examining the letter sent by the Austrian, German, Portuguese and Italian finance ministers on Friday 3 April expressing their support for measures to tax energy companies’ windfall profits. These ministers already set out their vision at the Eurogroup meeting on 27 March (see EUROPE 13838/1).
In the letter, they jointly called for a regulation similar to the one adopted in 2022 introducing a “temporary solidarity contribution” (EU 2022/1854) as an emergency measure to counter soaring energy prices.
In their view, such a European solution would send out the following message: “Those who profit from the consequences of the war must do their part to ease the burden on the general public”.
The letter also states that it is necessary to study how profits made abroad by multinational oil companies could be included in a more targeted way than was done in 2022.
Drawing on the lessons of the 2022 energy crisis, the Commission reiterated that any emergency measures must not generate inflation or increase the deficit, and must be “coordinated, temporary and targeted”. As has been pointed out on several occasions, the Commission is preparing to present a ‘toolbox’ of measures to help Member States cope with high energy prices, without revealing a precise publication date for the time being (see EUROPE 13840/1).
To see the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/lg6 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)