By Chris Jones - 4th May 2006
Oil companies profiting from increasing petrol prices could be hit by an EU-wide windfall tax, EU finance ministers have warned.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg prime minister, told journalists that the finance minister of the 12-nation Eurogroup had discussed introducing such a tax.
“The major oil companies seem to be the only winners at the moment,” Junker said. “This is starting to irritate the European public.”
A tax on oil company profits could be one way of reducing petrol costs, Juncker said, but stressed that “we are only at the start of our reflections”.
Oil prices are currently around $75 a barrel, and have risen by more than 43 per cent over the last 12 months.
Any EU decision would have to be backed unanimously by all 25 member states, Juncker warned.
“We agreed at the informal meeting in Manchester last year that any measures taken by individual member states should not distort the market as a whole, and this was repeated during our discussions today,” he said.
Support for a tax on profits is not widespread, with Austria, Greece and the Netherlands already distancing themselves from the suggestion.
US President George W. Bush last week rejected calls for a tax on the profits of US oil companies.
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