经济学人:欧元区改革: 中肯的提议(1)

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　　Fix the roof, he counsels, while the economic weather is favourable¹. 他建议在经济气象良好时，修补屋顶。

　　Leaders from across the European Union will have the opportunity to take that advice 欧洲委员会各国各领导人将有机会采纳该建议

　　when the European Council meets in Brussels on June 28th-29th. 6月28至29日期间，他们将在布鲁塞尔会面。

　　In preparation Emmanuel Macron, France's president, and Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor², 法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙以及德国总理安格拉·默克尔

　　laid out joint³ proposals for reforms on June 19th. 在6月19日的提交了改革联合提案。

　　The result of weeks of ministerial negotiation⁴, they reconciled long-standing differences on the future of the currency bloc⁵ 通过几周的内阁谈判，他们在货币同盟未来发展的长存差异上达成和解

　　and set the scene for discussion at the wider summit. In a victory for Mr. Macron, the Germans have consented to a euro-zone budget. 并为接下来的峰会讨论做准备。在马克龙取得的胜利中，德国已经就欧元区预算达成同意。

　　In other areas, notably⁶ banking⁷ reform, progress is likely to be halting. 其他各区进展，尤其是银行改革进展似乎停滞不前。

　　The reforms aspire⁸ to mend the institutional weaknesses revealed during the years following the financial crisis. 改革是希望在金融危机结束后的几年中修复制度上暴露的缺陷。

　　Lacking control over interest rates and the ability to devalue their currencies, 由于缺乏对利率的管控以及贬值货币的能力，

　　some countries struggled to cope with violent economic shocks. 一些国家在猛烈的经济冲击中挣扎。

　　Some, like Greece, were stuck in a "doom⁹ loop" where wobbly banks destabilised the governments supporting them, 一些国家，比如希腊，陷入了一种“厄运循环”之中，风雨飘摇的银行使支持他们的政府开始动摇，

　　which in turn weakened the banks holding government bonds. 反过来动摇的政府又使持有政府债券的银行更加弱化。

　　To be fair, the bloc has already done quite a lot. 公平的说，货币同盟已经做了很多努力。

　　At the height of the crisis, a bailout fund was cobbled together for emergency lending to countries that lost access to capital markets. 在危机高潮时期，货币同盟出台救助资金用于修补给予各国的紧急援助借贷，这些借贷国家丧失了进入资本市场的能力。

　　In 2012 the euro zone agreed to establish a banking union to contain risks and break the doom loop. 2012年，欧元区同意建立一个银行联盟以牵制风险并打破这种厄运循环。

　　The European Central Bank now supervises all the euro zone's systemically important banks. 如今欧洲中央银行监管所有欧元区的重要体系银行。

　　If a bank needs winding¹⁰ down, the Single Resolution Board provides short-term funding and imposes losses on creditors¹¹, limiting the cost to the taxpayer¹². 如果银行需要放慢步伐，单一清算委员会就会提供短期基金并对债权人征收损耗，限制纳税人的成本。

　　But more than five years on, banking union remains¹³ incomplete. 但是五年多过去了，银行联盟仍不完备。

　　Mr. Macron is keen both to push through those remaining reforms, and to go further. 马克龙渴望促成剩下的那些改革，也希望更进一步。

　　His proposal for a euro-zone budget aims to ensure members' economies continue to converge¹⁴ and to help those buffeted¹⁵ by external events. 他提议的欧元区预算旨在确保成员国的经济得以继续汇聚并帮助那些受到外部事件冲击的成员国。

　　New prime ministers in Italy and Spain appear to agree. 意大利和西班牙的新任首相似乎同意他的提议。

　　The Germans, Dutch and Nordics, however, resist the pooling of risks across the bloc. 而德国、荷兰以及北欧人拒绝承担同盟国间的风险汇合。

　　They worry that fiscally¹⁶ prudent¹⁷ countries would end up subsidising profligate¹⁸ ones. 他们担心财政节省的成员国最终会肆意挥霍补助金。

　　Italy, where an earlier version of the new governing coalition¹⁹ seemed to scorn the euro zone's spending rules, will not have reassured²⁰ them. 意大利早期新成立的执政同盟似乎对欧元区的支出策略表示鄙视，而现在意大利将无法消除他们的疑虑。

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