"The taxation of extraordinary profits is a responsibility of the Member States, and they can act based on national legislation. Naturally, these measures must be in accordance with European law", said an official source from the community executive today in a written response sent to the Lusa agency.

The same source recalled that “Member States can now resort to their national fiscal powers to respond to issues related to social equity and, if they so choose, create measures such as the taxation of extraordinary profits”, as the institution mentioned in a communication released last April.

“The Commission will respect Member States' decisions and provide assistance and share good practice in relation to national measures, as well as assessing their impact on the single market,” the spokeswoman said.

New request from Member States

Brussels' position comes after a new request from Portugal and five other countries - Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain - for the EU to move forward with a common mechanism for taxing the extraordinary profits of oil companies.

In a letter sent to the Irish presidency of the Council this semester and to which the Lusa agency had access, the six Finance Ministers argue that it is necessary to “address the issue of high energy prices through the discussion of an EU-wide framework for the taxation of extraordinary profits, taking into account the lessons learned in 2022 and, this time, with a more specific analysis on how profits obtained abroad by multinational oil companies could be included in a more targeted way”.

In the letter, the ministers – including the Portuguese president, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento – argue that the conflict in the Middle East continues to put pressure on energy prices and warn that the effects could extend beyond fuel, affecting the prices of other goods and services and worsening the cost of living.

They therefore want “a common European mechanism capable of protecting the single market, whilst ensuring that the diversity of national situations and respective interested parties are taken into account, as well as compliance with the principle of subsidiarity”, as per the letter to which Lusa had access.

Next meeting

Portugal and other countries are asking for the matter to be included in a future meeting of EU finance ministers, such as the informal meeting scheduled for September 18 and 19 in Dublin, as part of the Irish presidency of the Council.

The letter raised a question that Portugal, along with other countries, had already asked the European Commission in the spring of this year: a common response to tax extraordinary profits in the energy sector, similar to the solidarity contribution created in 2022.

However, Brussels considered at the time that adopting a tax on these profits was a decision for each Member State, given the difficulty of adopting this measure at the European level under the required unanimity.

Faced with the lack of conditions to move forward with a harmonised solution at the EU level, the Portuguese Government adopted a national measure, but still defends a European response.

The initiative comes at a time of pressure, driven by the impact of rising energy costs on families' purchasing power and companies' costs.