Six EU nations push for windfall tax on oil companies amid energy price surge – EnviroNews

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Six European Union countries are urging the 27-member bloc to consider a coordinated windfall tax on oil companies that are benefiting from soaring energy prices following the disruption of crude supplies linked to the conflict with Iran.

Finance ministers from Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland and Austria have asked Ireland, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, to place the proposal on the agenda for the bloc’s next finance ministers’ meeting in Dublin on September 18–19.

In a letter sent to the Irish presidency on Monday, August 24, 2026, the six ministers argued that governments need a common response to the sharp increase in energy costs and ensure that companies benefiting from the crisis contribute to easing the burden on households and businesses.

“We are experiencing one of the biggest supply shocks in decades,” the ministers said, noting growing public concern over the rising cost of living.

They argued that measures introduced by individual governments so far had not been sufficient to permanently reduce or stabilise energy prices.

The ministers are therefore calling for an EU-wide framework for taxing windfall profits, drawing on lessons from the energy crisis of 2022.

This time, however, they want the bloc to examine more specifically how profits earned by multinational oil companies outside the EU could be taxed, while ensuring that any measures comply with international tax rules and do not undermine energy security or investment.

The proposal is expected to face opposition from countries concerned about competitiveness, legal challenges and the risk that companies could pass the additional costs on to consumers.