The impact of the special tax on large energy companies approved by the Government will mean a cost of 450 million euros for Repsol, according to what its CEO, Josu Jon Imaz, confirmed this Thursday during the conference with analysts that he held to present the results of 2022.
The Basque manager has strongly charged with the excessive regulation of the Government and has assured that Repsol will go to court since it considers that this tax is "contrary to the Spanish Constitution".
In this way, Repsol is the first company in the energy sector to confirm that it will go to court against the special tax, as have the main companies in the banking sector also affected by this extraordinary tax burden.
This same morning, the employers' association of the large electric companies, the Association of Electric Power Companies (aelec) has communicated that its intention to file a contentious-administrative appeal before the National Court against the order of February 2 in which the extraordinary tax on the sector, considering it "discriminatory and unjustified".
Imaz has warned that this confiscatory policy has a negative impact since it discourages investment from the energy industry, which is what the sector needs to reduce the high prices of fuel and electricity that the Spanish are suffering.
Repsol's top manager has gone further by ensuring that this price escalation is not directly linked to the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, but rather has a lot to do with the policies applied in previous years by Europe. “The high energy prices we pay today are not just a consequence of the war in Ukraine. The shortage of energy products already existed before. In Europe we are highly dependent on imports because the regulators have preferred to forget the need to invest in oil and gas and also in refining capacity”, he assured.
In the opinion of Imaz, the energy transition in Europe and Spain "should be a transition that is less ideological and more technological." In his opinion, banning fuels that can help decarbonise is not the solution. “Energy prices increase because demand rises, while, contrary to what logic would dictate, difficulties are imposed on the production of some energy products. High prices are not 'fallen from heaven', they are a consequence of the wrong decisions made in Europe”.
