Roughly half the amount that drivers pay for fuel goes to the state through various taxes and levies. The price of Eurosuper 95 reached an EU weighted average of 2.063 euros per litre on 14 September, the highest price since the European Commission began keeping this statistic.
The crisis began in late February, when war broke out in Iran, disrupting the flow of energy through the Strait of Hormuz. Before the war, Brent crude stood at around $72 a barrel, but on Monday it was trading at a price above $100.
Fuel is taxed in two main stages. First, an excise duty is applied, a fixed amount per litre that does not automatically rise with the price of oil, and individual states impose additional charges such as carbon taxes. Then, value added tax (VAT) is applied to the fuel price, which already includes excise duties and other levies, meaning drivers pay VAT on the excise duty as well. At the EU level, taxes amounted to an average of 0.976 euros per litre, or 47.3 per cent of the final price at the pump, with taxes exceeding one euro per litre in seven member states.
In January, Latvia increased the excise duty on unleaded petrol from 532 to 555 euros per 1,000 litres, or 0.553 euros per litre. An additional levy in Latvia funds state oil reserves and amounts to 91.26 euros per ton of oil products sold in Latvia, or just under seven cents per litre of petrol. The 21 per cent VAT adds a further 0.343 euros, meaning drivers in Latvia pay 0.96 euros in taxes and levies per litre.
Estonia charges a duty of 0.593 euros per litre, after raising levies on fuel in May. When prices rose sharply this spring, the authorities in Tallinn decided against implementing the planned additional increase for May 2025. Estonia has no other specific levies on fuel, and the 24 per cent VAT adds 0.370 euros per litre. The total tax burden in Estonia amounts to 0.963 euros per litre, almost exactly half of the 1.914 euro retail price.
The main tax on fuel, known as ISP, in Portugal was 0.432 euros per litre in the week to 14 September. The ISP includes the former road user charge, which remains at 8.7 cents per litre of petrol, but the ISP has been reduced by a temporary discount. This measure is applied when prices rise by more than 10 cents compared to the level at the beginning of March, effectively returning additional revenue to drivers in the form of higher VAT collected by the state. The charge on emissions in Portugal in 2026 is a further 0.159 euros per litre, and the 23 per cent VAT adds a further 0.387 euros. The three components together in Portugal amount to 0.978 euros per litre.
Italy charges a duty of 0.673 euros per litre. Petrol and diesel in Italy have the same rate as of January, following a reduction in the tax on petrol by 4.05 cents, while the tax on diesel was increased by the same amount. Rome has reduced the duty on diesel several times since July to mitigate the impact of rising prices, while no such reduction has been applied to petrol. The 22 per cent VAT adds a further 0.376 euros, meaning the state collects 1.049 euros for each litre sold, slightly more than half of the 2.084 euro retail price.
The tax on petrol in France, previously known as TICPE, is 0.690 euros per litre as of 1 March. The 20 per cent VAT adds a further 0.362 euros, meaning drivers pay a total of 1.052 euros in tax. Greece charges a duty of 0.70 euros per litre on unleaded petrol, with two smaller levies calculated as a percentage of the price adding a further 1.5 cents. These are a charge for customs processing and a contribution to a special fund. The 24 per cent VAT adds a further 0.418 euros, bringing the total tax burden in Greece to 1.133 euros per litre, or 52.5 per cent of the retail price, which is the highest share among the ten countries on this list.
The energy tax in Germany is fixed at 65.45 cents per litre. Berlin reduced it by 14.04 cents from 1 May to 30 June, but the full rate now applies again. The charge on emissions adds a further 0.148 euros per litre, with certificates for emissions from fossil fuels sold at auction within a range of 55 to 65 euros per ton. The energy tax, emissions charge, and VAT combined amount to 1.179 euros per litre, roughly half the amount drivers pay at the pump in Germany.
The levies in Finland amount to 0.722 euros per litre, composed of three parts: a tax on the energy content of fuel, a CO2 tax, and a smaller levy for security of supply. In January, Helsinki reduced the value of the carbon used to calculate the CO2 tax from 62 to 56.8 euros per ton. Finland stands out with its VAT, as the rate of 25.5 per cent is the second highest in the EU, just behind Hungary’s 27 per cent, increasing the price by 0.471 euros. The total tax burden in Finland amounts to 1.193 euros per litre.
Denmark has the most expensive petrol in the EU, with a price of 2.564 euros per litre. This is followed by the Netherlands at 2.434 euros, Germany at 2.357, and Finland at 2.317, with petrol costing more than two euros in France, Greece, Italy, and Portugal. The cheapest fuel is in Malta, where a litre costs 1.34 euros. In Sweden, the price is 1.514 euros, in Bulgaria 1.620, in Cyprus 1.650, and in Slovenia 1.748.
Fuel prices have risen sharply across Europe, particularly diesel. In 16 of the 27 EU member states, the price of diesel is at least two euros. The average price of diesel in the EU has risen by 34.4 per cent, while petrol has risen by 24.1 per cent. The European Commission recorded record average prices for both petrol and diesel last week. The pressure is particularly evident in diesel, due to disruptions in global supply, refinery issues, and high processing costs for crude oil into finished products.
In Croatia, new maximum retail prices came into effect today. Petrol has increased by one cent and now costs 1.74 euros per litre, while diesel has increased by six cents to 1.91 euros. The government has additionally reduced the excise duty on diesel fuel by three cents per litre. The excise duty, with the consent of the European Commission, is thus ten cents below the minimum prescribed by EU rules. According to the government’s calculation, if there were no measures and prices were formed freely based on previous levels of excise duties and margins, a litre of petrol would cost 1.95 euros, and diesel 2.26 euros. A 50-litre tank of diesel at the current price costs 95.50 euros, whereas, according to the government’s calculation, it would cost 113 euros without the government’s measures, or 17.50 euros more.
For Croatia, the table shows the current regulated prices for basic petrol and diesel, which are valid from 22 September, while the other member states listed are the national averages from the European overview. Due to this difference, the Croatian price should not be treated as a completely methodologically identical national average.
The Minister of Economy, Ante Šušnjar, said yesterday that the government is considering the possibility of moving to a daily formation of fuel prices. The idea is that changes in market prices would be reflected more quickly in pump prices, rather than the current model where the government sets maximum prices for a seven-day period. Šušnjar stated that the government has the option of a floating VAT. He noted that diesel had risen by about ten cents per litre on the markets in the past week, but the government’s reduction in excise duty had mitigated the full impact of that increase on Croatian drivers.
