The First Vice President and Minister of Economy, Trade and Business, Carlos Cuerpo, has promoted together with his counterparts from Germany, Italy, Austria and Portugal an initiative to ask the European Commission for the creation of a new tax on the profits of energy companies after the conflict in the Middle East.
The Body itself has explained on social network X that "Ministers Markus Marterbauer, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, Lars Klingbeil, Giancarlo Giorgetti and I asked the European Commission to explore a temporary solidarity instrument for energy companies to contribute with the extraordinary profits obtained during the war and alleviate the burden on consumers and taxpayers".
The proposal, backed by the economic leaders of these five countries, seeks to mitigate the impact of rising oil prices and prevent the cost of the crisis from falling solely on citizens. In this regard, they emphasize the need to protect "consumers and curb inflation, without overburdening public budgets".
Likewise, the ministers recall that "At the Eurogroup meeting on March 27, 2026, we defended and supported measures to tax the extraordinary profits of energy companies. A similar instrument was already introduced in 2022 through a temporary solidarity contribution established by Regulation (EU) 2022/1854 of October 6, 2022, concerning an emergency intervention to address high energy prices."
Given the current context of market volatility and fiscal constraints, they consider that the European Commission "should rapidly develop a similar EU-wide contribution instrument, with a solid legal basis (and without prejudice to all other efforts and measures adopted by Member States to address high energy prices)".
In the letter, to which ElConstitucional.es has had access, the ministers highlight the importance of sending a message of political unity in view of the consequences of the war, pointing out that a measure of this type would demonstrate "our Member States and for the economy in general, demonstrating unity and capacity for action" within the European Union.
