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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Jon Henley Europe correspondent and Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent

Record fuel prices across EU prompt calls for bloc-wide windfall tax on firms

A display board shows prices at a fuel station in Leezen, Germany.
A display board shows prices at a fuel station in Leezen, Germany. Across the EU, petrol prices are 24% up on a year ago, while diesel is up 38%. Photograph: Annegret Hilse/Reuters

European governments have discussed imposing a bloc-wide windfall tax on energy companies, as near-record fuel and gas prices pile pressure on leaders desperate to contain mounting public discontent and the challenge of the far right.

With elections due next year in eight EU countries including France, Italy, Spain and Poland, leaders are scrambling to head off the potential fallout from what analysts have warned could be one of the continent’s biggest energy shocks in decades.

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