AG Rantos would let Italy keep broader energy windfall levy

Articles 1, 2 and 14 of Regulation (EU) 2022/1854 do not preclude Italy from keeping a temporary energy solidarity contribution whose personal scope is wider than the Union contribution, provided it meets the equivalence conditions for the sectors the Regulation does cover.Europa That is the answer Advocate General Rantos proposes to the Court of Justice in his OpinionEuropa of 22 October 2026 in Case C-153/25, on a reference from the Corte costituzionale. The Opinion therefore proposes, without itself giving, the Court's answer: point 69 states "I propose that the Court of Justice give the following reply", and counsel should track the Court's judgment in C-153/25 before treating the outcome as decided.

The measure at issue is Article 1(115) and (116) of Italian Law No 197 of 29 December 2022. For 2023 it imposed a solidarity contribution not only on upstream operators in crude petroleum, natural gas, coal and refining, but also on electricity producers and resellers, gas producers, extractors and resellers, petroleum producers, distributors and traders, and importers and intra-Union acquirers for resale.Europa Trading platforms and small and micro fuel retailers were excluded, and liability attached where at least 75% of prior-period revenues came from the listed activities. The base was the corporation-tax revenue of the period before 1 January 2023 exceeding by at least 10% the average of the four preceding periods, taxed at 50% and capped at 25% of net assets. The Union contribution instead covers only companies and permanent establishments with at least 75% of turnover from crude petroleum, natural gas, coal and refining, on 2022 and/or 2023 surplus taxable profits above a 20% increase over the 2018-based four-year average, at a rate of at least 33%.

The Advocate General accepts that the Article 14(1) sector list is exhaustiveEuropa, so an equivalent national measure under Article 14(2) must in principle cover the same sectors under similar rules, as recital 63 confirmsEuropa. But broader scope alone does not strip equivalent statusEuropa: equivalence is assessed only for the sectors within Article 14(1)Europa, and combining the compliant contribution with its extension in one act is not fatal. The Regulation, adopted on Article 122(1) TFEU as an exceptional, targeted and temporary emergency response, effects no exhaustive tax harmonisation, leaving Member States fiscal competence outside its scopeEuropa. The extension may reflect national conditions: Italy drew 48.6% of its 2022 energy mix from gas with no significant oil or coal extraction, and the broader levy raised roughly twice Regulation-scope revenue. The Commission's November 2023 stocktaking found most Member States using equivalent measures did the same.

Nor does the extension itself breach the Regulation absent evidence it undermines the Regulation's effectiveness or circumvents its requirements, of which the order for reference contains noneEuropa. Electricity producers already under the Article 6 revenue cap faced both measures only for December 2022, and cumulation is not expressly forbidden: Article 8(1)(a) permits national measures further limiting Article 7(1) producers' market revenues. The referring court must verify the Article 8(2) conditions, notably that the combined burden still covers operating costs and leaves reasonable-investor profitability. The Spanish Government's inadmissibility plea fails because the applicants contest compatibility with the Regulation.

Nine proceedings from the Lazio administrative court and the Messina and Trieste tax courts stand joined before the Corte costituzionale. Rantos delivered same-day Opinions in the parallel Belgian and Irish references, Varo Energy Belgium (C-358/24) and Vermilion Energy Ireland (C-533/24), heard together on 9 June 2026.

Legal basis is Articles 1, 2 and 14 of Regulation (EU) 2022/1854 of 6 October 2022 on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices, as interpreted in the proposed reply in Case C-153/25.