There are movements around the controversial tax on the energy sector that could be decaffeinated at the end of the year. The leader of the PNV, Andoni Ortuzar, declared this Sunday in El Correo that he opposes the Spanish Government maintaining it with its current design in 2024 because it is “damaged merchandise.” “The PNV is going to get involved so that the things that are done are reasonable for all parties,” he stated when asked about Repsol’s rejection of this tax and its warning about taking investments from the Basque Country and the rest of Spain to other countries if the Government extends it after its expiration at the end of this year. “What is clear is that as it stands, this tax is damaged goods,” Ortuzar stated that he has decisive votes for legislative extension measures.

For her part, the third vice president of the Government, Teresa Ribera, seems to abide by the European Commission report published this Friday by EL MUNDO, stating that the situation of the profits of the oil and gas companies is no longer what motivated them to be allowed in EU special taxes for extraordinary profits. In statements to Colpisa, Ribera affirms that she is going to think about how to maintain the tax: “We are looking for a reasonable energy tax because the situation is different.”

The pressure from the sector is intense, led in this case by the president of Repsol, Antonio Brufau: “If we have taxes that Portugal or France do not have, our decision will be to go there,” he said last Thursday. Ribera regrets that these complaints are not aired in public, but she seems willing to address them. In the investiture agreement reached by the PSOE and Sumar, both agreed in October to this: “We will review the taxes on banks and energy companies with the aim of readapting them and maintaining them once their current application period expires, so that both sectors continue to contribute to fiscal justice and the maintenance of the welfare state”.

In Portugal there is no such tax and in France it is much lower, according to the latest report from the European Commission.