双语新闻：默克尔决定为欧元买单
Not too long ago, Ms Merkel faced criticism for hesitancy andindecision. Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, made apilgrimage to Berlin to demand she pick up the reins ofleadership. It had been a long time since a Polish politician hadcalled for a more assertive Germany.就在不久前默克尔还被指责为瞻前顾后、犹豫不决。波兰外长拉多斯瓦夫 西科尔斯基(Radoslaw Sikorski)虔诚地前往柏林，要求默克尔背负起领导职责。好久没有波兰政客呼吁德国采取更自信的姿态了。
Ms Merkel is now being nothing if not assertive. The individual ingredients in her recent speech tothe European parliament – fiscal rectitude, improved competitiveness, deeper financial integrationand eurozone economic governance – were scarcely groundbreaking. Together they representGermany’s conditions for securing the future of the single currency. Berlin has decided that, oneway or another, it cannot avoid picking up the bill. So it wants to set the terms. Austerity now andshared decision-making later is the price others must pay for German solidarity.
如今，如果不能用“自信”来形容默克尔，那就找不到可以形容她的词了。在她最近向欧洲议会的演讲中，具体成分没啥新意（财政清廉、提高竞争力、加深财政一体化程度和改善欧元区经济治理）。整体上，它们代表着德国保障欧元未来的条件。柏林已经认定，不管怎样它都避免不了买单。因此德国希望制定规则。目前的紧缩以及日后的共同决策，是其他国家为得到德国团结而必须付出的代价。
The euro is not out of the woods. A spat between eurozone governments and the InternationalMonetary Fund has underlined the scale of the economic crisis still engulfing Greece. The disputeitself – about whether Greece’s debt to GDP ratio should fall to 120 per cent by 2020 or 2022 – was surreal. Everyone knows that Greece will have to write off another hefty slab of its debt. Thequestion is one of timing.
欧元并没有摆脱困境。欧元区各国政府与国际货币基金组织(IMF)的争执突显出希腊经济危机的严重性。争执本身有些脱离现实——希腊债务与国内生产总值(GDP)的比率到2020年还是2022年降至120%？所有人都知道，希腊将不得不再次大幅减记债务。这只是时间问题。
Spain needs a bailout package. So does Cyprus. For all its success in restoring competitiveness, Ireland badly needs relief from the burden of bank debt. Sovereign bond rates are still way too highand bank balance sheets too weak. Without growth, voter frustration has turned to anger in theperipheral economies.
西班牙需要一个纾困方案。塞浦路斯也是如此。爱尔兰尽管在恢复竞争力方面取得一些成功，但该国迫切需要摆脱银行债务重担。国债收益率仍居高不下，银行资产负债表仍然过于疲弱。在没有经济增长的情况下，欧元区外围经济体选民的挫折感已变成愤怒。
That said, the air of existential crisis has dissipated. Predictions of the euro’s imminent demiseproved premature. The common assumption now is that politics is trumping economics.
话说回来，生死攸关的危机氛围已经消散。事实证明，关于欧元区很快解体的预测是不成熟的。目前人们普遍认为，政治因素在与经济因素的较量中占据上风。
Mario Draghi’s announcement that the European Central Bank was ready to buy the bonds ofdistressed governments is rightly seen as the turning point. History may well record that it was “Super Mario” who finally saved the euro. The initiative was possible, though, only because MsMerkel took the side of the ECB against the Bundesbank. She is not the first chancellor to defyGermany’s central bank. Helmut Kohl overruled it on the terms of unification. Ms Merkel’s decisionwas no less significant for that.
马里奥 德拉吉(Mario Draghi)表示，欧洲央行准备购买陷入困境国家的国债，这一声明正确地被视为转折点。很可能被历史铭记的是，“超级马里奥”最终拯救了欧元。然而，此举有可能出台，只是因为默克尔站在欧洲央行一边，而顶住德国央行(Bundesbank)的反对。她并非是唯一否决德国央行的总理。赫尔穆特 科尔(Helmut Kohl)也曾在德国统一条款上否决过德国央行。但默克尔决定的重要性并不因为有这个先例而降低。
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