VOA双语新闻 EU Sets Summit to Assess Alliance's Future（在线收听）

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced an informal summit of European Union leaders to consider the future direction of the troubled alliance.

英国首相布莱尔宣布，欧盟将在几个月内举行一次非正式的欧盟领导人峰会，探讨欧洲联盟的未来方向。目前该组织面临重重困难。

The Blair announcement came on the first day of Britain's six-month tenure in control of the European Union's rotating presidency.

布莱尔是在英国担任欧盟轮值主席的第一天宣布这一消息的。欧盟轮值主席的每届任期是六个月。

The British presidency coincides with a crisis in confidence in the 25-nation alliance, after voters in France and the Netherlands rejected the EU constitution, and EU leaders failed to agree on a budget for coming years.

英国开始担任轮值主席正好是欧洲联盟面临信任危机的时刻。欧洲联盟共有25个成员国。不久前，法国和荷兰的选民拒绝接受欧盟宪法，欧盟领导人也未能对未来几年的预算达成一致意见。

Mr. Blair says EU leaders will gather in Britain in a few months for an informal summit on what he sees as the core issue facing the bloc: how to sustain economic growth, while maintaining a strong social safety net.

布莱尔说，欧盟领导人将在几个月内在英国举行非正式的峰会，商讨在他看来是欧盟目前面临的核心问题，也就是如何在维护一个强大的社会安全网络的同时保证经济的增长。

"The most important thing is to try to get people to come together and debate ... how we make sense of the dilemma of Europe today, which is a desire to be a strong competitive economy and a desire to keep in place a strong social dimension, where we are looking after our citizens, making sure people are given proper protection when they are changing their jobs, how we are equipping our people on the basis of justice and fairness and solidarity to be able to face the challenges of today," he said.

布莱尔说：“最重要的是把大家聚集在一起辩论......我们如何理解欧洲现在的困境。我们需要一个富于竞争力的强大经济，需要建立一个强大的社会环境，这样我们才可以照顾我们的公民，以保证他们在换工作时能得到适当的保障。我们也要讨论如何在公正、公平及团结的基础上让我们的人民能够面对今日的挑战。”

The EU has been shaken by the rejection of the constitution by French and Dutch voters, followed by a bitter argument between Britain and France over the EU budget, which gives large subsidies to French farmers and an annual rebate to the British treasury.

最近，欧盟由于法国和荷兰的选民拒绝欧盟宪法而受到震撼，接着英、法两国就欧盟的预算又展开了激烈的争论。该预算给予法国农民大量的补助，并给予英国国库年度退款。

There are also differences over future EU expansion. Britain supports EU membership for Turkey, but there is opposition within Germany and France. Negotiations on Turkish membership are set to begin in October.

欧盟成员国对该组织的未来扩展也存在很多分歧。英国支持土耳其成为欧盟成员，但是德国和法国都表示反对。土耳其的入会问题定于10月份讨论。