Six European Union countries are pushing for talks on a new EU-wide tax on windfall profits earned by oil companies, arguing that extraordinary earnings generated during the current energy crisis should help ease the financial pressure facing European households and businesses.
The finance ministers of Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland and Austria have written to Ireland, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, requesting that the proposal be discussed by European finance ministers at their meeting in Dublin on September 18–19.
The initiative comes amid another major disruption to global energy markets following Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The six governments described the situation as one of the largest supply shocks in decades and argued that measures introduced so far have not been sufficient to permanently stabilize prices for consumers and companies.
Since the outbreak of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran on February 28, crude oil prices have risen by around 25%. The impact on refined fuels in Europe has been substantially greater, with diesel prices increasing by more than 70% and gasoline prices by around 20%, according to figures cited in the ministers’ letter.
The six countries want the EU to examine a common framework capable of taxing extraordinary profits generated during the crisis rather than relying solely on separate national measures. They are also calling for a more targeted system that could take into account profits earned abroad by multinational oil companies.
The proposal draws on Europe’s experience during the 2022 energy crisis, when the EU introduced a temporary solidarity contribution on excess profits in the fossil-fuel sector after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent energy prices sharply higher. The six governments want policymakers to use lessons from that mechanism when considering the new proposal.
Portugal has already moved independently. In July, Lisbon approved a 33% windfall tax on the portion of oil and refining companies’ 2026 profits exceeding their average profits in 2024 and 2025 by more than 20%.
The ministers are also pressing the European Commission to quickly publish the results of an investigation into oil refiners’ profit margins, seeking to establish whether companies have benefited disproportionately from the surge in fuel prices.
However, agreement across the EU is far from guaranteed. Political differences remain even within countries supporting the discussions. In Germany, Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil’s SPD backs the idea, while Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU has opposed a windfall tax. The European Union has also not yet committed itself to introducing a new bloc-wide levy.
The September meeting could therefore become an important test of Europe’s response to the latest energy shock. Supporters see a windfall tax as a way of ensuring that companies benefiting exceptionally from the crisis contribute toward protecting consumers, while any eventual mechanism would still require negotiations over its scope, tax base and treatment of multinational profits.
For now, the six-country initiative represents a call for negotiations rather than an approved European tax. But with energy prices again placing pressure on households and industries, the debate over who should bear the economic cost of the crisis is moving rapidly back to the centre of the EU agenda.
