译者 frmann
Britain and the EU summit:Europe's great divorce
英国和欧盟峰会：
欧洲大分裂
Dec 9th 2011, 8:03 by Charlemagne | BRUSSELS
2011年12月9日，8:03，查理曼 布鲁塞尔
WE JOURNALISTS are probably too bleary-eyed after a sleepless night to understand the full significance of what has just happened in Brussels. What is clear is that after a long, hard and rancorous negotiation, at about 5am this morning the European Union split in a fundamental way.
布鲁塞尔今夜无人入睡，我们这些记者顶着朦胧的眼睛很难理解刚发生的事情的重要性。很显然，在经过了长时间、艰难的针锋相对的谈判之后，在今天早晨5点欧盟陷入了重大的分裂。
In an effort to stabilise the euro zone, France, Germany and 21 other countries have decided to draft their own treaty to impose more central control over national budgets. Britain and three others have decided to stay out. In the coming weeks, Britain may find itself even more isolated. Sweden, the Czech Republic and Hungary want time to consult their parliaments and political parties before deciding on whether to join the new union-within-the-union.
为了稳定欧元区，法国、德国和另外的21个国家决定自行签署条约，对国家预算施加更多的中央控制。英国和另外三个国家则决定不参加。在将来几周，英国可能发现它更加的孤立：瑞典、捷克和匈牙利需要时间征求各政党意见，在议会进行表决最终决定要不要加入这个新的盟中之盟。
So two decades to the day after the Maastricht Treaty was concluded, launching the process towards the single European currency, the EU's tectonic plates have slipped momentously along same the fault line that has always divided it—the English Channel.
在决定开始货币一体化进程的马斯特里赫特条约签署二十年后，欧盟的政治板块在分裂它的断层线——英吉利海峡——上发生重大漂移。
Confronted by the financial crisis, the euro zone is having to integrate more deeply, with a consequent loss of national sovereignty to the EU (or some other central co-ordinating body); Britain, which had secured a formal opt-out from the euro, has decided to let them go their way.
面临财政危机的威胁，欧元区必须更深入地一体化，并让渡一些国家主权给欧盟（或其他中央协调机构）；而在欧元问题上有正式的不参加权力的英国则决定置身事外，让其它国家进行财政一体化。
Whether the agreement does anything to stabilise the euro is moot. The agreement is heavily tilted towards budget discipline and austerity. It does little to generate money in the short term to arrest the run on sovereigns, nor does it provide a longer-term perspective of jointly-issued bonds. Much will depend on how the European Central Bank responds in the coming days and weeks.
协议是否能稳定欧元还有待观察。协议主要是针对预算制度和紧缩，它并不能在短期创造出可以缓解主权信用危机的货币，也没有提出共同债券的前景。效果到底如何还需要看欧洲中央银行在将来一段时间的反应。
Some doubt remains over whether and how the "euro-plus" zone will have access to EU institutions—such as the European Commission, which conducts economic assessments and recommends action, and the European Court of Justice, which Germany hopes will ensure countries adopt proper balanced-budget rules—over Britain's objections.
新的“欧元+区”是否可以在英国的反对中获得欧盟机构的支持也存有疑问，负责评估经济状况并对行动给出建议的欧盟委员会和德国希望确保各国执行恰当的财政预算制度的欧洲法院都是计划中的关键。
But especially for France, on the brink of losing its AAA credit rating and now the junior partner to Germany, this is a famous political victory. President Nicolas Sarkozy had long favoured the creation of a smaller, "core" euro zone, without the awkward British, Scandinavians and eastern Europeans that generally pursue more liberal, market-oriented policies. And he has wanted the core run on an inter-governmental basis, ie by leaders rather than by supranational European institutions. This would allow France, and Mr Sarkozy in particular, to maximise its impact.
不过对处于失去AAA信用评级边缘，沦为德国的小伙伴的法国来说，这次的协议是一个辉煌的政治成功。尼古拉斯·萨科齐（Nicolas Sarkozy）总统一直期望建立一个小一些的“核心”欧元区，不再受烦人的英国佬，北欧人和东欧人喋喋不休要求更加自由的市场主导的政策的声浪的干扰。他希望这个“核心”是一个政府间组织，由各国领袖而不是由超国家的欧洲机构来主持。因为这样可以让法国（也许是萨科齐本人）最大化它的影响力。
Mr Sarkozy made substantial progress on both fronts. The president tried not to gloat when he emerged at 5am to explain that an agreement endorsed by all 27 members of the EU had proved impossible because of British obstruction. “You cannot have an opt-out and then ask to participate in all the discussion about the euro that you did not want to have, and which you also criticised,” declared the French president.
萨科齐在两方面都取得了客观的进展。总统先生在5点钟出现在记者面前时努力克制让自己不要显得志得意满，他解释说因为英国的反对而无法通过全部27国签署的协议。法国总统宣称：“某些人不能‘不参加’却要求参加所有关于欧元的讨论，某些人根本就不想要欧元，总是对它吹毛求疵。”
With the entry next year of Croatia, which will sign its accession treaty today, the EU is still growing, said Mr Sarkozy. “The bigger Europe is, the less integrated it can be. That is an obvious truth.”
明年加入欧盟的克罗地亚会在今天签署入盟条约，萨科齐称欧盟还在发展：“欧洲{欧盟}越大，它就约难一体化。这是显而易见的。”
For Britain the benefit of the bargain in Brussels is far from clear. It took a good half-hour after the end of Mr Sarkozy's appearance for Mr Cameron to emerge and explain his action. The prime minister claimed he had taken a “tough decision but the right one” for British interests—particularly for its financial-services industry. In return for his agreement to change the EU treaties, Mr Cameron had wanted a number of safeguards for Britain. When he did not get them, he used his veto.
英国从布鲁塞尔的谈判中得到的是什么尚未可知。在萨科齐说完以后，卡梅伦（Cameron）也有整整半小时的时间来为自己作解释。首相声称他为了英国——特别是英国的金融服务产业——的利益作出了“艰难但正确的决定”。卡梅伦希望通过签署条约为英国赢得一些保障。他如果得不到想要的就将行使否决权。
After much studied vagueness on his part about Britain's objectives, Mr Cameron's demand came down to a protocol that would ensure Britain would be given a veto on financial-services regulation (see PDF copy here). The British government has become convinced that the European Commission, usually a bastion of liberalism in Europe, has been issuing regulations hostile to the City of London under the influence of its French single-market commissioner, Michel Barnier. And yet strangely, given the accusation that Brussels was taking aim at the heart of the British economy, almost all of the new rules issued so far have been passed with British approval (albeit after much bitter backroom fighting). Tactically, too, it seemed odd to make a stand in defence of the financiers that politicians, both in Britain and across the rest of European, prefer to denounce.
卡梅伦一直不清楚他应该为英国争取什么，现在，他终于决定要求签署一份议定书，保证英国在金融服务监管方面拥有否决权。英国政府相信，原本是欧洲的自由主义堡垒的欧盟委员会由于它的法国单一市场专员麦希尔·巴尼耶（Michel Barnie）的影响制定了许多对伦敦金融城充满敌意的政策。不过，奇怪的是虽然英国政府指责布鲁塞尔把英国经济的心脏当成了目标，它却批准了所有的新条例（当然经历了艰苦的密室角力）。策略上，卡梅伦的立场也很奇怪，他在保护英国和欧洲其它国家的政治家一致谴责的对象——金融家。
Mr Cameron said he is “relaxed” about the separation. The EU has always been about multiple speeds; he was glad Britain had stayed out of the euro and out of the passport-free Schengen area. He said that life in the EU, particularly the single market, will continue as normal. “We wish them well as we want the euro zone to sort out its problems, to achieve stability and growth that all of Europe needs.” The drawn faces of senior officials seemed to say otherwise.
卡梅伦称分离的结果让他“如释重负”。欧盟内部一直有不同的一体化速度，他很高兴英国既没有使用欧元也没有加入申根协定。他说在欧盟特别是自有市场的生活会和往常一样，“我们希望欧元区能解决它的问题，让他们过得很好，实现欧洲需要的稳定于发展。”但从高官们憔悴的脸上读出的却是不同的意思。
The 23 members of the new pact, if they act as a block, can outvote Britain. They are divided among themselves, of course. But their habit of working together and cutting deals will, inevitably, begin to weigh against Britain over time.
新条约的23个成员如果一致行动就可以压倒英国的否决，不过它们内部显然是分裂的。但随着时间的推移，它们共同行动并签订条约的习惯必然会将矛头指向英国。
Mr Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, have given notice of their desire for the euro zone to act in all the domains that would normally be the remit of all 27 members—for example, labour-market regulations and the corporate-tax base.
萨科齐和德国总理安吉拉·默克尔（Angela Merkel）已经提出，他们希望将欧元区的行动范围扩展到原本属于全部27国决定的领域——如劳动力市场监管和公司税税基等。
Britain may assume it will benefit from extra business for the City, should the euro zone ever pass a financial-transaction tax. But what if the new club starts imposing financial regulations among the 17 euro-zone members, or the 23 members of the euro-plus pact? That could begin to force euro-denominated transactions into the euro zone, say Paris or Frankfurt. Britain would, surely, have had more influence had the countries of the euro zone remained under an EU-wide system.
英国也许认为如果欧元区通过金融交易税，自己会从增加金融业交易中受益。但如果欧元17国区或者欧元+区条约的23国实施金融管制会怎么样呢？这可能会导致欧元主导的交易进入巴黎和法兰克福等欧元区的金融中心。显然，只有欧元区继续留在欧盟框架之内，英国才能有更大的影响力。
It says much about the dire state of the debate on Europe within Britain's Conservative party that, as Mr Cameron set out to Brussels, another Tory MP portentously invoked the memory of Neville Chamberlain, who infamously came back from Munich with empty assurances from Adolf Hitler. Mr Cameron may have made a grievous mistake with regard to Britain's long-term interest. But at least nobody can accuse him of returning from Brussels with a piece of paper in his hand.
在英国保守党内对欧洲的辩论非常激烈，就在卡梅伦出发前往布鲁塞尔之前，一位保守党议员颇有遇见性地唤起了大家对内维尔·张伯伦（Neville Chamberlain）的记忆：这位著名的首相会见希特勒（Adolf Hitler）后两手空空地从慕尼黑回国。就英国的长远利益而言，卡梅伦可能犯下了严重的错误。但至少没人可以指责他只从布鲁塞尔拿了一张纸回来（注：如德法所愿修约，却没有重分配权力）。
(Picture credit: AFP)
（图片来自法新社）
from 译言-每日精品译文推荐 http://article.yeeyan.org/view/235852/238839
