5 EU countries press for windfall taxes

Finance and economy ministers from Austria, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain are pressing for the European Commission to impose windfall taxes on energy companies as they profit from the crisis caused by the Iran war, dpa learnt on Saturday.

The ministers point to a solidarity levy imposed during the energy crisis that followed the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 in a letter addressed to Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra.

The commission should rapidly introduce a similar EU-wide instrument based on solid legal foundations, given the current market distortions and financial pressures, the letter said.

An EU-wide solution would signal to EU citizens and business that the bloc was standing and acting together to compel those profiting from the war to make their contribution to easing the burden.

The proceeds should be used to finance measures to ease the burden on consumers and to limit price rises without imposing additional burdens on EU budgets, it said.