Six EU States Seek Oil Windfall Tax; Romania Has Own Levy — NRG-IA

Six European Union member states are seeking to bring the taxation of windfall profits in the oil industry back to the EU level. Germany, Italy, Austria, Poland, Portugal, and Spain are calling for discussions on a common EU framework at a time when fuel prices remain high, global refining capacity is strained by the Middle East conflict, and the gap between crude oil costs and refined product prices has widened significantly. The initiative is supported by German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil and has been forwarded to Ireland, which holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU. The six states want the topic to be included in the discussions of European economy and finance ministers, meeting informally in Dublin on September 18 and 19. The immediate goal is not to adopt a tax in Dublin, but to secure the political support needed to advance the idea toward a concrete European instrument. The meeting's public agenda confirms the working sessions but does not yet detail a thematic agenda explicitly including this proposal. Six states seek to shift taxation from national to European level The request does not equate to the existence of a new European tax. There is currently no legislative proposal from the European Commission to establish the rate, tax base, targeted companies, or duration of such a mechanism. The Commission has so far chosen a more flexible approach. In the AccelerateEU plan, published on April 22, Brussels indicated that member states could adopt windfall profit tax measures to address social pressures stemming from rising energy prices. The Commission declared itself ready to offer assistance and best practices for national measures and to assess their impact on the single market, without proposing a new mandatory EU-wide contribution at the time. The initiative by the six states attempts to push this policy a step further: from disparate national interventions to a more coordinated European approach. Their argument is that a common shock, which affects the single market and consumer costs in all member states, can also justify a common fiscal response. However, such an instrument would have to be built from scratch. In the absence of a legislative draft, neither the legal basis nor the voting procedure has been established. The 2022 precedent was adopted as an emergency measure in the context of the energy crisis, and any potential 2026 mechanism could follow a different architecture. Refining margins have become the center of the dispute Political pressure does not stem solely from rising oil prices. European Central Bank data shows that, in 2026, a significant portion of the price increase for gasoline and especially diesel occurred after crude oil was processed into finished products. The ECB estimates that, for diesel, the component including refining and distribution costs and margins rose from approximately €0.10 per liter in February to €0.26 per liter in March. In the first three weeks of July, it contributed approximately €0.35 per liter to the price of diesel and €0.23 per liter to that of gasoline, levels close to historic highs. This increase also has a physical explanation. In the second quarter, global exports of refined products fell by approximately 4.5 million barrels per day, according to data used by the ECB. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, reduced available refining capacity, and disruptions to oil product flows restricted supply precisely at a time when demand for gasoline and diesel remained high. This distinction must also be maintained in the fiscal debate. The indicator analyzed by the ECB represents costs and margins between crude oil and the finished product, not the net profit of a refinery. A higher gross margin can lead to higher profits, but it cannot be directly equated with the company's accounting profit. This is precisely why the initiative of the six states calls for a European analysis of windfall profits, rather than a simple, mechanical taxation of the spread between oil and fuel. The 2022 precedent generated nearly €29 billion The European Union already has a major precedent. In 2022, during the energy crisis triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Council introduced a temporary solidarity contribution for companies in the oil, natural gas, coal, and refining sectors. The mechanism did not tax total profits. The contribution applied to taxable profits in 2022 and/or 2023 that exceeded by more than 20% the average taxable profits generated between 2018 and 2021. The European regulation set a minimum rate of 33% for the portion deemed surplus. By the time of the final report, member states had collected €26.15 billion, and the Commission estimated the total would reach €28.661 billion once outstanding amounts were collected. The revenues were primarily used for support measures targeting energy consumers, particularly vulnerable households. This precedent explains why the current idea has a real political and institutional foundation.…