00:00Six EU countries are intensifying calls for a block-wide windfall tax on oil companies
00:05as profits surge amid the war in the Middle East.
00:10Finance ministers from Germany, Italy, Austria, Poland and Portugal, along with Spain's economy
00:16minister, urged Ireland to put the issue on the agenda for next month's meeting of EU
00:21finance chiefs in Dublin.
00:24The ministers called for an EU-wide framework to tax windfall profits, drawing on the temporary
00:29Levi introduced in 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
00:34Beyond the proposal, Germany's finance minister, Lars Klingbeil, said that excessive crisis
00:39profits should be returned to consumers.
00:42Energy companies have posted major earnings as the war disrupted shipping through the Strait
00:47of Hormuz.
00:48However, the EU has not yet signaled plans for a new Levi.
00:52The latter remains a preliminary draft while political divisions persist within member
00:57states, including Germany.
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