The finance ministers of Spain and four other European countries are urging the European Union to impose a bloc-wide windfall tax on energy companies, concerned that surging oil and gas prices driven by the war in Iran will fuel inflation and strain households.<\/p>\n
Spanish Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said Saturday that his counterparts from Germany, Italy, Portugal and Austria had signed a letter to the European Commission citing \u201cmarket distortions\u201d caused by the price spike.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conflict in the Middle East has caused oil prices to rise, placing a significant burden on the European economy and on European citizens,\u201d the letter, dated Friday and made public by Cuerpo in an online post, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important to ensure that this burden is distributed fairly,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
Europe is largely dependent on imported oil and gas, leaving it vulnerable to external shocks. In 2022, turmoil in energy markets following Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine pushed inflation into double digits in many European countries.<\/p>\n
At the time, the EU imposed a \u201csolidarity contribution\u201d that included caps on excess energy profits.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the current market distortions and fiscal constraints, the European Commission should swiftly develop a similar EU-wide contribution instrument,\u201d the letter said. \u201cIt would also send a clear message that those who profit from the consequences of the war must do their part to ease the burden on the general public.\u201d<\/p>\n
Driven largely by higher oil prices, the annual inflation rate in the 21 countries that use the euro rose to 2.5% in March, from 1.9% in February.<\/p>\n
Iran has blocked most tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 a chokepoint for about 20% of global oil and gas \u2014 in a move that threatens to stress fuel markets for months.<\/p>\n
European Union Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen warned this week that disruption caused by the closure means fuel prices are unlikely to \u201cgo back to normal in a foreseeable future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The finance ministers of Spain and four other European countries are urging the European Union to impose a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":871412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[18958,38231,2000,299,247336,5187,1699,774,244110,244111,244105,244106,244107,247337],"class_list":["post-871411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-carlos-cuerpo","tag-dan-jorgensen","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-europe-iran-energy-war-inflation","tag-european","tag-european-union","tag-iran","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100373-mc-complete-state-national","tag-product-30597-ap-business-news-f-wire","tag-product-30598-ap-national-news-report-a-wire","tag-product-31995-ap-online-general-financial-business-news","tag-product-32502-ap-online-europe-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116346166361759127","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=871411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}