欧盟委员会

　　Friends in the right places

　　处在正确位置的朋友

　　The British are down, the Germans and east Europeans are up

　　英国势力不在，德国和东欧的势力崛起

　　“I AM French, I am deeply French, but here I will stand as a European commissioner.” Thus Pierre Moscovici, a French former finance minister, when seeking the European Parliament's approval as economics and finance commissioner this autumn. Commission officials similarly plead European ambitions over national interests. But home ties are hard to break, so governments are keen to place their own in key posts.

　　“我是一个法国人，一个纯正的法国人，但我现在以欧盟委员会的身份站在这里。”今年秋天，法国前财政部长皮埃尔·莫斯科维奇在寻求欧洲议会批准其为经济和金融委员的时候如是说。委员会官员同样辩解称欧盟发展大于国家利益。但是国家情结很难打破，因此各国政府都力争谋求欧盟委员会的关键职位。

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　　New members have made their mark in recent years (see left-hand chart). Italy's representation has plummeted from almost 25% of the total in the 1980s. As host country, Belgium still does well. But the most striking recent trend has been the rise of Poland and Romania. In 2011 Poland slipped ahead of Britain, which now accounts for just 4.5% of the commission's total staff.

　　欧盟新成员国在最近几年里取得了很大的进步（见左边图表）。意大利代表在欧盟委员会中的比例自19世纪80年代的25%暴跌至今。作为东道国，比利时仍然表现不错。但是近来最令人惊叹的变化是波兰和罗马尼亚代表人数在欧盟委员会中的上升。2011年，波兰代表在委员会中所占职位比例首次超过仅占4.5%的英国。

　　The old guard clings on at the top, however. At the end of 2013, of the 128 most senior positions, Germany held 20, Britain 13 and France 11. German influence in commissioners' private offices (cabinets) has risen in the new commission led by Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker (whose chef de cabinet is German). Germany is also seen as dominant in the European Parliament.

　　但是老牌大国仍然坚守在欧盟委员会的顶端。2013年末，在128名最高级的职位中，德国占据了20个，英国13个以及法国11个。在由卢森堡的让 - 克洛德·容克（他的内阁大臣是德国人）领导的委员会中，德国在私人办公室（即内阁）的影响力逐渐上升。德国也被视为欧洲议会的主导者。

　　What about the future? Intriguingly, for junior administrative grades, the top two countries are now Poland and Romania. France is struggling to keep up—its influence in Brussels is declining. Britain does even worse at junior than at senior level, with a share of below 3% (see right-hand chart). As one senior official says, the commission can attract the brightest and best from newer members, but struggles to do so from Britain.

　　未来又会怎么样呢？有趣的是，对于初级的行政级别，现在所占人数比例最多的两个国家是波兰和罗马利亚。法国正在努力追赶——它在欧盟的影响力正在下降。英国人在初级职位上所占的比例比高级职位更少，甚至低于3%（见右边图表）。一个高级官员说到，欧盟委员会可以吸引新成员国最聪明最好的人才，但是在英国却不吃香。

　　One problem is Britons' poor foreign-language skills (job applicants must speak at least two). This is aggravated, ironically, by today's preponderance of English in the work of EU institutions. The risk of a British exit after a referendum also makes the commission a shaky career choice. Young Britons are drawn to China or America instead. The British government's attempt to do better is not working, either: since it relaunched its “EU fast stream” process with much fanfare in 2010, not a single candidate has gone on to join the commission.

　　问题之一是英国人蹩脚的外语能力（欧盟委员会申请人必须会两门语言以上）。讽刺的是，如今英国人在欧盟机构工作的优势更加使他们的外语能力愈发差劲。公投后英国有可能退出欧盟的风险同样让英国人把欧盟委员会列入不稳定的职业选择。相反，之前年轻的英国人所在的岗位吸引了大量的中国人和美国人。英国政府试图改善的措施也并不见效。自从政府于2010年大张旗鼓地重新启动“欧盟快流”计划以来，没有一个候选人加入欧盟委员会。