Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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One thing jumps out at me regarding not just the EU situation but the global situation on energy and the profiteering that has taken place. It is clear the profiteering started before the war in Ukraine. Profit margins in some fossil fuel industries increased by 64%. The money from this price gouging must be taken and given back to people who are suffering, because we see people suffering as a direct result of how the market has worked, particularly the anomaly whereby aspects of the market like wind energy and nuclear energy can gain a huge amount of profit on the back of the competition for fossil fuels.

That said, they are all making vast profits. I would like to ask the director about what she is calling the solidarity contribution. We call it a windfall profit tax. Would she agree that this should be expanded to include other companies in other sectors like tech, pharmaceuticals and agrifood that engaged in massive profiteering during the pandemic and since? There has been massive inflation in these sectors and the companies involved should also be paying a return on their windfall profits to society.

There is a crazy situation that the market has thrown up, an anomaly whereby nuclear, wind and solar energy companies that have incurred absolutely no extra costs are profiteering massively because of the way the market structure is set up. Would the director agree that deregulation and the privatised nature of the energy sector has led to this massive price gouging? We can see 20 years on that deregulation has been a major mistake. I would like to hear the EU's opinion on that. I know Ms Sikow-Magny is not going say the EU made a huge mistake there and is going to rectify it immediately. Perhaps she could give us some critique on why the deregulation of the market has led us to where we are and how we may be seeing some countries trying to return to controlling the energy market.

I have a technical question on the proposal. Why is it seeking only a 75% tax on the excess profits? Why not 100%? They are vastly excessive, over and above what was being made. I also want to ask about the losses that can and cannot be taken into account when calculating what is called the temporary solidarity contribution. The description in the heads of the Bill states that losses outside the period 2018 to 2023 cannot be carried forward or back, group relief will not be included, and capital expenditure in the period 2018 to 2023 will not be deductible. However, it goes on to suggest that losses and capital expenditure for the years 2018 to 2021, inclusive, will be taken into account. Can the director clarify the position? Will the structure allow losses to be taken into account for the previous years, 2018 to 2021 in particular, before these windfall profits were being made? I could be reading it wrong but for us there seems to be a contradiction in terms of the heads of the Bill.

I emphasise that I would like to hear the director's opinion on the deregulated nature of the market across the EU.