Toward a new windfall tax?

The government appears determined to reimpose a windfall tax on what it considers excessive profits in the wholesale electricity market, where prices have been rising again, even without the approval of the European Union.

As before, the tax will be used to subsidize households' and businesses' electricity bills.

Environment and Energy Minister Thodoros Skylakakis will nonetheless request EU approval at an Athens meeting on Friday, November 22.

In the summer, Bulgaria and Romania had joined Greece in demanding approval of windfall taxes and subsidies. This time, at least initially, Greece will forge alone, stressing the urgency of the matter. Skylakakis will tell the EU delegation that "violent price changes are unacceptable."

To make his case, Skylakakis will produce data showing that Europe's electricity market is dysfunctional and that, twice in the...