Should the super-profits of energy companies be taxed? Emmanuel Macron said he was in favor, Monday, September 5, not of a tax, but of “a European mechanism” to obtain the financial contribution of certain producers who carry out, according to the President of the Republic, “undue profits”. This question will be on the menu of the emergency meeting of European energy ministers on Friday 9 September in Brussels. So far, the 27 Member States have taken measures in scattered order.
Italy was the first European country to introduce, from the spring of 2022, an exceptional tax. A 25% tax on the profits of oil and gas companies. The UK has also launched a 25% surcharge, but only for tankers extracting crude in the North Sea. Greece and Romania have also taken similar measures.
>> Economics, ethics and politics: should super-profits be taxed?
In Hungary, the surcharge is more extensive. It also concerns insurance companies, banks, but also telecoms and airlines. In Spain, a similar device has been announced, but not yet voted. It would make it possible to recover an additional 3.5 billion euros taken from the profits of banks and energy producers. Superprofits are also in the sights of the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, which will reveal their intentions after the European summit on Friday.
The 27 will undoubtedly feed on the Italian experience, which is quite contrasting for the moment. Tax revenues have not lived up to expectations. Several Italian companies took the case to court and suspended payments. What is certain is that the European Commission is in favor of it. It was she who authorized, in March, these various taxes on super-profits at the national level.
But, is what is applicable at the level of a State transposable to the level of the European Union with a centralized redistribution? “We will have to study the legal basis of such a mechanism”, reacts a European source. Obtaining unanimity does not look easy. Emmanuel Macron and his German counterpart Olaf Scholz offer a “contribution” from large groups making super-profits, such as TotalEnergies. “This contribution could then be paid back to the States to finance their targeted national measures”explains Emmanuel Macron.
This proposal adds to the suggestion box for the Extraordinary Council of European Energy Ministers. It complements the three options already under discussion to curb inflation. The first: decorrelate the price of electricity from that of gas. But that would upset the whole structure of the European market. The measure is considered complex and risky. This mechanism has so far avoided supply disruptions on the continent. Another more advanced option is to specifically cap the prices of electricity produced at low cost, for example by a nuclear power plant or a solar park. The last solution would consist of simply freezing the price of gas purchased from Russia and delivered by pipeline, betting on the fact that Moscow will not be able to do without the European market. Many avenues considered for an urgent situation: the energy crisis. Negotiations at 27 are just beginning.