Liz Truss has stated her opposition to windfall taxes but the European Commission says energy profits must be shared
Good morning. There is very little public politics taking place in Britain right now (although the events following the death of the Queen are political in a broader sense, and anyone familiar with how a political campaign operates will have been watching what King Charles has been doing in recent days, no doubt with sympathy, but also immense admiration for his professionalism.) But in Brussels normal politics continues, and this morning Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, has just delivered her state of the union speech to the European parliament.
There was a lot in it, particularly about Ukraine, and I will post a full summary later, but for readers in the UK what she said about energy was particularly interesting – because it was so different from what the British government is saying.
Von der Leyen proposed recouping money from energy companies, saying “profits must be channelled to those who need it most”. She said there should be a cap on profits for companies making energy from renewables, and she said fossil fule companies should also make a bigger contribution during the crisis. She said:
Millions of Europeans need support.
EU member states have already invested billions of euros to assist vulnerable households.
Von der Leyen said the EU was encouraging member states to cut energy consumption. And she praised those who were already taking steps to do this.
Think of the workers in … factories in central Italy who have decided to move their shifts to the early morning to benefit from the lower energy prices.
And just imagine the mothers and fathers among those workers having to leave home early when the kids are still sleeping because of the war they have not chosen.
