The EU wants to skim off the profits of oil and gas companies

Brussels, Strasbourg The EU is pushing ahead with its plan for a special levy on oil and gas companies. The fossil energy sector benefits from “extreme price increases” and rakes in profits “that go far beyond normal business activities,” writes the EU Commission in a draft law that it plans to present to the member states this week. The document is available to the Handelsblatt.

With the project, Brussels is targeting companies from the oil, gas and coal sectors as well as refineries. Examples are Shell, Eni and OMV, in Germany Wintershall and RWE have recently earned extremely well. Those who benefited now would have to give up part of their profits – “in a spirit of solidarity,” writes the commission. She therefore wants the special levy to be understood as a “solidarity contribution”. In fact, however, it is a profit skimming.