工会领导人正在寻找缓解能源价格飙升的办法，但唐纳德·特朗普总统对伊朗的战争让他们几乎没有负担得起的选择。
Union leaders are searching for ways to ease soaring energy prices, but President Donald Trump’s war against Iran has left them with few affordable options.
能源成本激增构成了关于欧洲竞争力更广泛辩论的基石，该辩论将于周四在布鲁塞尔拉开为期两天的峰会序幕。波斯湾的冲突推高了石油和天然气价格，推高了通胀，并拖累了这27国集团的经济增长。
Surging energy costs form the cornerstone of a broader debate on European competitiveness that will open a two-day summit in Brussels starting Thursday. The conflict in the Persian Gulf has pushed up oil and gas prices, boosting inflation and weighing on economic growth across the 27-nation bloc.
据一位不愿透露姓名的欧盟高级官员透露，因为讨论是私下进行的，欧盟执行机构欧盟委员会预计将告知集团领导人，没有灵丹妙药能对抗高昂的能源价格。伊朗战争迄今已使欧洲的化石燃料进口账单增加了1000多亿欧元（约合1110亿美元），同时在冬季供暖季来临前，让该地区的天然气储存量降至创纪录的低位。
The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, is expected to tell the bloc’s leaders that there’s no silver bullet to combat high energy prices, according to a senior EU official, speaking on the condition of anonymity as the discussions are private. The Iran war has so far added more than €100 billion ($111 billion) to Europe’s fossil fuel import bill, while leaving the region’s gas storages at record low levels before the winter heating season.
欧盟成员国同样举步维艰：限价和减税伴随着沉重的财政成本，而此时政府预算日益紧张。飙升的利率正在加剧这一挑战。
EU member states are similarly hobbled: price caps and tax cuts come with a heavy fiscal cost at a time when government budgets are increasingly stretched. Soaring interest rates are compounding the challenge.
欧洲改革中心研究员伊丽莎白·维亚德雷表示：“欧盟领导人面临四年来的第二次能源冲击；这一次公共债务和借贷成本更高。”
“EU leaders face a second energy shock in four years; this time with higher public debt and borrowing costs,” said Elise Viadere, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.
欧盟几乎没有任何速效良方。委员会正寻求延长联合能源采购，推迟一项旨在解决化石燃料进口中甲烷排放的气候规则，并延长对重灾区行业的国家援助。但这些措施都无法在短期内遏制价格，因为该地区依赖石油和天然气进口。
The EU has few, if any, quick fixes. The commission is looking to extend joint energy purchases, while postponing a climate rule to tackle methane in fossil fuel imports and prolonging state aid to hard-hit industries. But neither of those do anything to curb prices in the short term, with the region dependent on oil and gas imports.
意大利总理焦尔吉娅·梅洛尼周三表示，她即将与委员会达成协议，以便对用于发电的天然气价格设定上限。德国总理弗里德里希·默茨也提议大幅削减所有消费者的电力税，但目前尚不清楚财政状况是否允许实施这一举措。
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Wednesday she was nearing a deal with the commission to be able to cap the price of natural gas used to generate electricity. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has also proposed a significant cut in electricity taxes for all consumers, but it remains unclear whether the finances exist to implement it.
根据彭博社看到的草案结论，欧盟领导人将呼吁委员会提出进一步的措施，以在短期内应对能源价格飙升的问题。但他们并未具体说明这些措施将是什么。
EU leaders will call on the commission to put forward further measures to address soaring energy prices in the short term, according to draft conclusions seen by Bloomberg. But they stop short of saying what those will be.
欧盟领导人峰会周四召开之际，国际能源署也将举行会议，届时将决定七国集团是否承诺快速将柴油供应释放到市场。
Overlapping Thursday’s summit is a meeting of the International Energy Agency which is due to decide on G-7 commitment to quickly release diesel supplies into the market.
委员会目前正在评估对能源公司意外利润征收全欧盟范围税的潜在影响。这呼应了其在俄罗斯2022年入侵乌克兰之后所施加的“团结贡献”，实际上相当于对能源公司超额利润征收33%的税。委员会还为所谓的边际外电力生产商（如风能和太阳能）引入了收入上限。
The commission is already assessing the potential impacts of imposing a EU-wide tax on windfall profits made by energy companies. That echoes the “solidarity contribution” it imposed following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which was effectively a 33% tax on energy firms’ excess profits. It also introduced a revenue cap for so-called inframarginal electricity producers, like wind and solar.
但此举可能会遭到一些成员国的反对。此外，还有人担心在石油炼油厂需要投资以确保该地区拥有足够供应以满足民众和国防工业需求的时候，压制行业利润会带来不利影响。
But such a move would face opposition from some member states. There’s also concern about tamping down industry profits when investments are needed in oil refineries to ensure the region has enough supplies for citizens and its defense industry.
欧盟领导人预计将重申，能源转型是降低价格在长期内最有效的策略，但各国在对该排放交易体系进行改革的问题上也存在分歧。
EU leaders are expected to reiterate that the energy transition is the most effective strategy to lower prices in the long term, yet countries are also split over an overhaul of the bloc’s Emissions Trading System.
一派包括西班牙、荷兰和斯堪的纳维亚国家在内的国家认为，该工具对欧洲在尖端技术领域的竞争力至关重要，任何削弱都将损害该集团的长期目标。
One group, including including Spain, the Netherlands and Scandinavian nations argue that the tool is vital for Europe’s competitiveness in cutting-edge technologies, and any weakening would undermine the bloc’s longer-term objectives.
但另一些国家则指责该集团的碳市场增加了工业成本。意大利总理梅洛尼及其捷克 counterpart 安德烈·巴比什希望推迟将供暖和道路运输纳入ETS的2028年扩张计划，并加强对现行体系下工业的保护。他们的呼吁得到了本周行业团队的呼应，这些团队在一封信中敦促领导人更好地将ETS与欧洲的竞争力目标对齐。
But others blame the bloc’s carbon market for adding to industry costs. Meloni and her Czech counterpart Andrej Babis want to stall a 2028 expansion of the ETS to heating and road transport, and bolster protection for industries under the existing system. Their call was mirrored by industry groups this week, calling on leaders in a letter to better align the ETS and Europe’s competitiveness goals.
根据布鲁盖尔智库副所长西蒙尼·塔利亚皮埃特拉的说法，欧盟领导人需要超越短期方案来降低电价。
EU leaders need to go beyond short-run solutions to cut electricity prices, according to Simone Tagliapietra, deputy director at the Bruegel think tank.
“从结构上降低电价需要时间，并需要结构性的解决方案，例如更深入地整合欧洲电力系统，”他说。“如果没有欧盟领导人强有力的政治引导来走这条道路，就不可能取得真正的进展。”
“Structurally lowering electricity prices takes time and requires structural answers, such as deeper integration of the European electricity system,” he said. “Without a strong political steering by EU leaders to go down this route, no real progress is possible.”