The Portuguese Association of Oil Companies (Apetro) said Friday “it is ready to talk” with the government about the taxation of extraordinary profits in the sector, but looking for “balanced solutions” and adapted to Portugal, which has “perverse effects” in the future.
“It is not an outright rejection, an order. It is also not an unconditional acceptance of the principle. It is an idea that we want to talk about, work together and find solutions that are balanced and that manage to reconcile these social concerns – which is quite right.” is in the times of crisis we live in – as we are not creating anything that will have perverse effects in the future, given the additional burdens that will be placed on these companies”Apetro’s secretary general said in statements to the Lusa agency.
According to António Comprido, this was the position of the oil industry at European level, through the FuelEurope association: “realizes the principle and social scope of the measure”but “believes that this should be discussed with the concerned sectors in order to avoid perverse effects”. “As the minister himself said” [da Economia português]Antonio Costa Silva”noticed.
Thus, while it has not yet had a “conversation” with the Portuguese government on this topic, the association states that it is available for dialogue: “We have not been contacted, but we hope to be approached in due course if the Portuguese government – which says it is still investigating the matter – decides to move forward. At that point, we hope there will be common sense to guide the sector. consult.”to maintain.
As “perverse effects” of the possible taxation of excessive profits in the sector, the leader points in particular to those who: “relate to competitiveness and the ability of companies to sustain their operations, sustain their investment programs and invest in the energy transition”.
The aim is to ensure that “unforeseen consequences eventually turn what would be a good measure into a measure with perverse effects”he emphasized.
First of all, Apetro does not agree with the reference period for calculating extraordinary profits proposed by the European Commission in the proposal presented last Wednesday – the three years between 2019 and 2021 – arguing that this is “one of the aspects that should are refined and discussed”.
“In principle, it does not seem reasonable to us that, in order to calculate excessive profits, results of 2022 are compared with results of the triennium 2019-2021, while in that triennium we have a year of very deep crisis, namely 2020 , and a year of the beginning of recovery. , that is 2021″claims António Comprido, noting that: “these years are not representative of what normal activity is and what normal industry profit is”.
As he points out, “we need to start by defining in a very clear way what excessive profits are, namely what is the reference used to calculate excessive profits”being “Of course you can’t make the pandemic year to make the comparison, it makes no sense”.
“We must look for a period that reflects some normality in the functioning of the sector”underlined.
On the other hand, and “as the minister” [António Costa Silva] also mentioned”, the secretary general of Apetro warns that “the fiscal situation is very different in every country”.
“We must not forget that in Portugal we have already made an extraordinary contribution to the energy sector, which was extraordinary and for a limited period of time (it was imposed during the troika period), but it remains in effect. way, extra taxing companies with higher business volumes and consequently with higher absolute profits (not to say it is in relative terms)”detailed.
In this regard, António Comprido reiterates that: “all these specifics will have to be properly considered, Member State by Member State, in order to determine the best way to implement the European Commission’s recommendation”which aims to tax at least 33% fossil energy companies (oil, gas, coal, refining) whose profits in fiscal year 2022 are at least 20% higher than those of the past three years.
emphasize that “the minister [da Economia] is a man who knows the industry and is therefore sensitive and he himself has pointed out that this is an issue that needs to be handled very carefully.”says the director of Apetro that the association “expect to be contacted if the government may decide to move forward”.
“But it is not yet clear that it is moving forward, because I have not said it yet and this is not an obligation imposed by the European Commission, it is a recommendation to Member States to eventually move forward in this direction. Now it will be up to be everyone”rounded.
Source: DN
