Estonia kept fuel excise duty hikes info from European Commission since 2020
Estonia has not reported fuel excise hikes to the European Commission over the past five or so years, Postimees reported, raising questions at a time of soaring gas and diesel prices at the pump.
Politicians had, Postimees wrote, often stated that excise hikes made little difference to final fuel prices to customers, and that the filling stations' own margins made up the bulk of any price rises.
The European Commission has a weekly Oil Bulletin which presents weekly consumer prices for petroleum products in EU countries, with excise duties factored in; this raises questions both of the efficacy of the bulletin, if the fact of Estonia not reporting excise duty hikes since 2020 had up to now gone unnoticed, as well as over the division of responsibility when it comes to fuel prices.
Part of the issue, Postimees wrote, is that multiple ministries and agencies in Estonia have seemingly been involved in sending the excise duty figures to the Commission, at a time when comparisons are being made – including using information based on the Oil Bulletin – with fuel prices charged in other EU member states.
While the data had previously been sent to the Commission from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, this ministry says it no longer does so, and that the finance ministry "might" be responsible – the latter ministry in turn said fuel issues fall under the purview of the Ministry of Climate; after some to-ing and fro-ing with Postimees, the climate ministry then passed the buck back to the finance ministry and "possibly also the Tax and Customs Board," who they said are responsible for excise duty and VAT, whereas the climate ministry "is concerned only with the specific (current) fuel price, but the surrounding aspects."
Postimees said it was unable to get comment from a European Commission spokesperson on energy at the time of writing.
The European Commission's Oil Bulletin relies on national data and prices submitted to the Commission every Wednesday, with a view to the bulletin publishing the next day.
Diesel prices reached a record level in Estonia on Monday, at €2.169 per liter. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is also sending oil prices skyward, though a recent pause on strikes on Iran, put in place by U.S. President Donald Trump, led to an immediate 11 percent drop in the price of crude.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
Source: Postimees
