Klingbeil and other EU ministers call for a tax on excess profits
Together with Austria, Italy, Portugal and Spain, the German finance minister has written to the EU Commission in a joint letter.
Berlin (dpa) – Berlin (dpa) – Together with European colleagues in Brussels, German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil is pushing for a special tax on excessive crisis-driven profits made by energy companies. The EU Commission should present an instrument for this without delay, Klingbeil wrote jointly with the finance or economy ministers of Austria, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
The ministers refer to the so-called solidarity contribution introduced during the energy crisis following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022, which aimed to skim off excess profits from business with fossil fuels such as oil and gas. “Given the current market distortions and financial constraints, the European Commission should swiftly develop a similar EU-wide instrument for contributions based on a sound legal footing,” the letter to the Commission states. A European solution would signal to citizens and businesses that Europe stands together and acts jointly, it goes on to say.
