经济学人417:欧盟的领导职位 悬而未决之时

 　　Europe's top jobs

　　欧盟的领导职位

　　Indecision time

　　悬而未决之时

　　European Union leaders squabble but fail to agree on their top jobs

　　欧盟领导们虽历经唇枪舌战，但就领导职位分配问题仍未达成一致意见。

　　MATTEO RENZI summed it up best. The Italian prime minister suggested that “they just had to send an SMS and we could have saved the cost of the official flight. In any case, it was a nice opportunity to meet and wish Angela Merkel a happy birthday.” Indeed, European Union leaders in Brussels toasted the German chancellor's 60th birthday this week. But they failed to settle the main business: a package of top EU jobs.

　　Matteo Renzi的概括最到位。这位意大利总理认为“他们发个短信就成了，这样我们可以省下公务飞行的费用。但不管怎么说，这是个不错的机会——我见到了 Angela Merke并祝她生日快乐。”确实，在布鲁塞尔的欧盟的领导这周为德国总理祝贺60岁生日。不过他们并没有就主要事务达成一致意见：欧盟的领导职位如何分配的问题。

　　欧盟的领导职位.jpg

　　A day after the European Parliament endorsed¹ the much-contested nomination² of Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission, leaders were meant to pick names for the other big posts: the high representative for foreign affairs, the president of the European Council and a new president of the Eurogroup of finance ministers. The stumbling block was Mr Renzi's nomination of Federica Mogherini as the foreign-policy supremo. As Italy's foreign minister of five months, she has barely more experience than Catherine Ashton did when she was named to the post in 2009. But she ran into objections from several eastern European countries, among them Poland and the Baltic states, who see Ms Mogherini as too pro-Russian. It did not help that she visited Moscow just before the summit and talked up the Kremlin-backed South Stream pipeline³.

　　在欧洲议会批准最有争议的提名候选人Jean-Claude Juncker为欧洲委员会主席之后，领导人要按着名单为其他重要职位选人：有负责涉外事务高级代表，欧洲理事会主席以及欧元集团财政部长的新头。陷入僵局的由头是Renzi提名Federica Mogherini为外国政策的掌舵人。2009年当她被提名为外交部长的时候，她只当过五个月的意大利外交部长，就经验而言比Catherine Ashton好不了多少。但她遭遇了一些欧洲东部国家的反对，其中包括波兰和波罗的海国家。这些国家认为Mogherini过于亲俄了。然而这并不妨碍她就在（布鲁塞尔）峰会之前前往莫斯科并大肆宣扬俄国政府支持的南溪天然气管道项目。

　　The Mogherini row made it inevitable⁴ that the whole package would need to be agreed at the same time so that all could be satisfied. Leaders thus found themselves speaking in circumlocutions. They discussed the balance between left and right, north and south, men and women and, belatedly, east and west—all without mentioning specific names.

　　对Mogherini的争议使得同时一次性任命欧盟高级领导并让诸方满意的计划落空。领导人不久发现他们的讲话就是兜圈子。他们彼此争论，要保持左翼与右翼的平衡，要保持北部和南部的平衡，男性与女性的平衡，还有后来加入的东部与西部的平衡——所有这些都要避免提及那些特定的名字。

　　Ms Mogherini remains⁵ the woman to beat. Both Mrs Merkel and France's President Fran?ois Hollande said the high representative should be from the centre-left political group. Whatever their misgivings⁶ about the Italian foreign minister, most leaders have other priorities. The British do not want to be at the centre of another fight after losing the bust-up over Mr Juncker; the Germans are more concerned to get the right dealmaker as president of the European Council; and the French want to ensure that their commissioner⁷, Pierre Moscovici, gets a senior economic job in the commission. Mr Juncker, diplomats⁸ say, was not ready to make any promises. Herman Van Rompuy, the current president of the European Council, will now consult again before a special summit on August 30th, but doing a deal even then may still be hard.

　　Mogherini的留下保证了女性胜利。Merkel 和法国总统Fran?ois Hollande认为高级代表应当出自中左翼的政治团体。但是无论他们对意大利外交部长的是否心存疑虑，大部分领导人都有自己的小九九。不列颠不希望在关于Juncker的争吵失利之后成为另一项斗争的焦点；德国人更关心选出能正确决策的欧盟理事会主席；而法国想着确保他们的委员Pierre Moscovici能在委员会获得一个高级经济席位。外交官称，Juncker不准备作出任何承诺。直到8月30日一个特殊峰会来临之际，现任欧盟理事会主席Herman Van Rompuy都将继续充当顾问。不过恐怕即便那时都难达成一致意见。

1 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

3 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

4 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 misgivings   

n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧

参考例句：

• I had grave misgivings about making the trip. 对于这次旅行我有过极大的顾虑。
• Don't be overtaken by misgivings and fear. Just go full stream ahead! 不要瞻前顾后， 畏首畏尾。甩开膀子干吧！ 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

8 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》