Talks on surtaxing the energy chain
The Romanian government wants to surtax energy companies, saying their profits are very high.
Bogdan Matei, 29.08.2022, 14:00
The ruling coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party, the National Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania is planning to adopt a regulation next week to introduce an additional tax for energy producers, intermediaries and suppliers. The coalitions leaders have already asked the finance ministry and the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority to make the necessary simulations and present them as soon as possible so that by 1st September, the government may come up with a regulation that establishes the exact conditions and amount of the surtax. Energy minister and Liberal Party member Virgil Popescu, who has often come under criticism for how he has handled the crisis, says the very high profits in the energy field must be eliminated. As an example, he cited the intermediaries, who buy cheap energy from producers and sell it at a high cost to consumers. Virgil Popescu:
“Were considering surtaxing the entire production chain, intermediaries and suppliers. Taxes are not generally established by the energy ministry. We can only provide consultancy, be part of working groups, but the project leaders are the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority, which centralises the data, and the finance ministry. This must be done as fairly and firmly as possible. Its unacceptable for some to make huge profits and for others to pay the bills. We have to tax everyone when the profits are very high. And there are huge profits on the energy market in some areas. In my opinion, an intermediary of electricity or natural gas should not earn more than a few percentages. All they do is buy and then sell.”
Minister Popescu also said the government will decide this autumn what will happen on the energy market beyond 31st March 2023, the date by which energy and natural gas prices have been capped. Meanwhile, there are more and more voices in Europe accusing Russia of weaponising its hydrocarbon exports after its invasion of Ukraine in revenge of the sanctions imposed by Europe. Austrias chancellor Karl Nehammer has called on the European Union to decouple electricity prices from those of gas to reduce energy bills. He said the EU must meet urgently to discuss this and that” electricity prices must go down”, adding that “we cant let Putin decide every day” about the price of energy and that “we have to stop this madness that is happening right now on energy markets”. (CM)
