约翰·安格报道：欧盟将着手指定一家市场运营商，协助该集团采购能源，以应对不到五年内爆发的第二次价格危机。
The European Union will look to appoint a market operator to help the bloc procure energy as it struggles with a second price crisis in less than five years.
欧盟委员会主席乌尔苏拉·冯德莱恩周二表示，她希望将此前为应对俄罗斯入侵乌克兰后天然气需求而建立的联合采购体系提升至“新高度”。她表示，该体系将从天然气扩展至其他能源来源，但未详细说明运营商的遴选方式及其具体职权范围。
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday she wanted to take a system of joint purchases established to pool gas demand in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the “next level.”It would be broadened beyond gas to other energy sources, she said. She didn’t specify how the operator would be chosen or what its exact remit would be.
现有的联合采购体系旨在汇总欧盟买家的需求，并将其与潜在供应商进行匹配，以期压低价格并更好地实现天然气供应来源多元化，减少对俄罗斯的依赖。然而，该体系在促成最终交易方面的成效备受争议，大型采购方更倾向于沿用现有的双边采购方式。
The existing system of joint purchases has sought to aggregate demand from EU buyers and match it with potential suppliers in a bid to drive down prices and better diversify gas supplies away from Russia. Yet its success in terms of final deals signed has been highly contested and big purchasers have preferred to stick with their existing methods of bilateral procurement.
冯德莱恩在法国斯特拉斯堡的欧洲议会表示：“我们希望从简单的撮合转向需求汇总，并授权一家市场运营商进行联合采购。我们需要投资提升我们的韧性。”随着霍尔木兹海峡石油和天然气流动持续中断导致能源价格再度攀升，这预计将成为下周布鲁塞尔领导人峰会的关键议题。欧盟能源专员丹·约根森已呼吁成员国考虑采取抑制需求的措施，但短期内降低价格的选项有限。
“We want to move from simple matchmaking to aggregating demand and task a market operator to do the joint procurement,” Von der Leyen told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. “We need to invest in our resilience.”With energy prices climbing once again amid protracted disruptions to oil and gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz, it’s set to be a key topic of discussion when leaders meet in Brussels next week. Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen has called on member states to consider measures to curb demand, but there are limited options to cut prices in the short term.