Rompetrol Rafinare, the operator of the Petromidia and Vega refineries, controlled by KazMunayGas, obtained from the Constanța Court of Appeal a notification of the Constitutional Court with the exception of the unconstitutionality of the Government’s emergency ordinance by which, at the end of 2022, the solidarity contribution of 60% on the “excessive profits” of companies in the crude oil, natural gas, coal and refining industries, based on an EU Regulation from the fall of the same year, an approach initiated by Rompetrol a few months ago, according to Profit.ro. The company had contested the surcharge first through administrative complaints, rejected by the Fiscal and the Ministry of Finance, after which, in the spring, it filed an annulment action in court, in an administrative dispute. In the process, the restitution by the state of the total amount of almost 580 million lei paid by Rompetrol as a solidarity contribution was also requested.

Rompetrol Rafinare also requested the referral to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) regarding the surcharge, but the Romanian civil court rejected its request as inadmissible, with the possibility of an appeal for the company. Thus, the Constitutional Court will rule on the constitutionality of GEO no. 186/2022 regarding some measures to implement Council Regulation (EU) 2022/1.854 of October 6, 2022 regarding an emergency intervention to address the problem of high energy prices, approved with additions by Law no. 119/2023. By the law approving the ordinance, a special solidarity contribution regime was established, applied only to those from OMV Petrom. Last year, the money collected by the state from the solidarity contribution was also used for the payment by the Ministries of Energy and Labor of the compensation due to electricity and natural gas suppliers for the differences between the purchase costs from the wholesale markets and the capped final prices billed to customers by law. In 2023, the budget receipts from this source amounted to over 3 billion lei.