经济学人295:马里奥•蒙蒂已重铸意大利在欧声誉

 　　BEFORE the European Union summit on January 30th, Italy’s new prime minister, Mario Monti, will have visited the German chancellor¹, Angela Merkel, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the British prime minister, David Cameron, whom he saw on January 18th. Herman Van Rompuy, president of the European Council, has been to see him in Rome. And the French, German and Italian leaders plan a pre-meeting just before the summit.

　　欧盟峰会将于1月30日召开，在此前夕，意大利新总理马里奥?蒙蒂将访问德国总理安格拉?默克尔和法国总统尼古拉?萨科齐。此前，他还于1月18日访问了英国首相戴维?卡梅隆。欧盟理事会常任主席赫尔曼?范龙佩也将在罗马与其会面。此外，法、德、意三国领导人还计划在峰会召开前举行一次预会。

　　It is a far cry from most of the second half of last year, when Europe’s leaders did as much as they could to avoid being caught in a photograph with Mr Monti’s scandal-tainted predecessor², Silvio Berlusconi. Italy, it seems fair to say, is back at the top table. And that could have far-reaching effects on the euro crisis. For, as he is making increasingly plain, Mr Monti’s ideas on how to resolve it are significantly at odds³ with those of the Germans who have until now been doing most of the ordering—and choosing pretty thin gruel⁴.

　　这可真与去年下半年的情况大不相同，那时，欧洲各国领导人竭力避免与丑闻缠身的西尔维奥?贝卢斯科尼（蒙蒂的前任）同台亮相。而现在，似乎是时候说，意大利又重回贵宾席了。这可能对欧元危机产生深远的影响，因为蒙蒂正愈发清晰地表明在如何解决危机的问题上他与那些德国人的想法大不相同——到目前为止，德国主要是作为发号施令者（此前德国一直认为只有欧元区各国统一标准、严守财政纪律，才能克服欧元区管理存在的结构性缺陷——译注），却没有给出什么有效的解决措施。

　　“Adherence to fiscal⁵ discipline is a necessary condition for growth,” he told an audience at the London Stock Exchange on January 18th. “It is not however a sufficient condition.” His message to Mrs Merkel and Mr Sarkozy is that the EU must move from reliance only on austerity towards some growth-stimulating measures. This was a view repeated by Standard & Poor’s, the rating agency that downgraded nine euro-zone countries, including Italy, on January 13th. Unlike his colleague from France, also downgraded, and the European Commission, Mr Monti did not criticise⁶ S&P: indeed, he shared much of its analysis.

　　1月18日，蒙蒂在伦敦证券交易所对一名在场观众说道：“遵守财政纪律是保证经济增长的必要条件，然而，只有这一个条件是不够的。”他将向默克尔和萨科齐表示，欧盟不能再仅仅依赖于紧缩方案，而应采取一些刺激增长的措施。而这正是标准普尔反复提到的观点一致——标普是一家评级机构，它在1月13日下调了包括意大利在内的9个欧元区国家的信用等级。与欧盟委员会以及同样被降级的法国同僚不同，蒙蒂并未指责标普：事实上，他认同很多标普所做的分析。

　　Mr Monti, who served as the EU’s commissioner⁷ for the single market and then competition between 1995 and 2004, is a rare creature: an Italian economic liberal. He is not a proponent⁸ of harrying⁹ Berlin to reflate to boost domestic consumption. But he would like to see the Germans do more to liberalise their own services, to bolster¹⁰ the EU’s single market (indeed, he wrote a report for the commission in May 2010 advocating further liberalisation).

　　蒙蒂在1995年到2004年间曾先后担任欧盟内部市场专员和竞争委员会专员，他是一名罕见的意大利经济自由主义者。他并不提倡迫使德国政府再度采用通货膨胀的方式来拉动内需，却想要看到德国努力使其市场自由化，以促进欧盟统一市场的发展。（其实，他在2010年5月就写了一份报告给欧盟委员会来提倡进一步的自由化）。

　　In London this week Mr Monti pledged to back a British effort to complete the single market, and thus to improve competitiveness throughout the EU. Although he believes it is unrealistic to expect Mr Cameron to go back on his refusal in December to sign up to the proposed fiscal compact between EU members, he is keen to involve the British as much as possible.

　　本周蒙蒂在伦敦承诺将支持英国为构建完整的统一市场所做的努力，从而全面提高欧盟的竞争力。卡梅隆曾在12月份拒绝签署欧盟成员国之间的财政条约。虽然蒙蒂觉得，要想让卡梅隆改变主意，恐怕不太现实，但他热切期望英国能够尽可能多地参与进来。

　　Speaking before his visit to London, in his office in Palazzo Chigi in Rome, Mr Monti says: “The more the UK feels distanced from European construction, the less others are able to benefit from the full influence of the many good things that the UK can help us all to achieve, and therefore there are many areas where I think it would be beneficial to have the UK fully¹¹ at the table.”

　　出访伦敦之前，在坐落于罗马基奇宫的总理办公室中，蒙蒂说道：“英国可以帮助我们各国达成许多具有全面影响的积极措施，而英国越是被排除在欧洲市场建设之外，其他国家能够从中得到的利益也就越少，因此，我认为英国的全面参与会使我们在诸多领域获益。”

1 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

2 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

3 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

4 gruel   

n.稀饭，粥

参考例句：

• We had gruel for the breakfast.我们早餐吃的是粥。
• He sat down before the fireplace to eat his gruel.他坐到壁炉前吃稀饭。

5 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

6 criticise   

v.批评，评论；非难

参考例句：

• Right and left have much cause to criticise government.左翼和右翼有很多理由批评政府。
• It is not your place to criticise or suggest improvements!提出批评或给予改进建议并不是你的责任！

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 proponent   

n.建议者；支持者；adj.建议的

参考例句：

• Stapp became a strong early proponent of automobile seat belts.斯塔普是力主在汽车上采用座椅安全带的早期倡导者。
• Halsey was identified as a leading proponent of the values of progressive education.哈尔西被认为是进步教育价值观的主要支持者。

9 harrying   

v.使苦恼( harry的现在分词 )；不断烦扰；一再袭击；侵扰

参考例句：

• The tax authorities have been harrying her for repayment. 税务局一直在催她补交税款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is increasingly active in harrying the government in late-night debates. 他越来越活跃，在深夜辩论中不断攻击政府。 来自辞典例句

10 bolster   

n.枕垫；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The high interest rates helped to bolster up the economy.高利率使经济更稳健。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

11 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。