The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, defended this Wednesday that the extraordinary benefits of companies in the oil, gas, coal and refinery sectors must “be channeled towards those who need it most”, proposing a solidarity contribution.
“Don’t get me wrong. In our social market economy, profits are good, but in these times it’s wrong to receive record windfall income and profits profiting from the war and at the expense of our consumers. [pelo que]in these times, the benefits must be distributed and channeled to those who need it most”, declared Ursula von der Leyen, speaking in her third speech on the State of the Union, at the plenary session of the European Parliament, in the French city. from Strasbourg.
According to the leader of the community executive, “these companies are generating income that they never counted, that they did not even dream of.”
Therefore, the idea of this tax on extraordinary profits would be to force “the producers of electricity from fossil fuels to make a contribution to the crisis”, making this tax obtain funds for social support, explained Ursula von der Leyen .
“Our proposal will raise more than 140 billion euros for member states to directly cushion the blow,” he said.
In her speech, the leader of the communal executive also announced the goal of “reducing [de eletricidade] during peak hours, which will make the offer last longer and lower prices”.
“When I look at electricity, millions of Europeans need support and that is why we are proposing a limit on the income of companies that produce electricity at low cost”, he added, referring, among other things, to production from renewable energies.
“These are all emergency and temporary measures,” concluded Ursula von der Leyen.
In the current configuration of the European market, gas determines the global price of electricity when it is used, since all producers receive the same price for the same product — electricity — when it enters the network.
In the European Union (EU) there has been a consensus that this current model of marginal prices is the most efficient, but the acute energy crisis, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, has motivated the discussion.
As the EU relies heavily on fossil fuel imports, in particular gas from Russia, the current geopolitical context has caused volatility in electricity prices.
Geopolitical tensions over the war in Ukraine have affected the European energy market, since the EU imports 90% of the gas it consumes, with Russia accounting for around 45% of these imports last year, at levels that vary between countries. that is now 9%.
In Portugal, Russian gas represented, in 2021, less than 10% of the total imported.
Source: TSF
