More Europe or less?

大欧洲还是小欧洲？

The EU must move closer together—or let states save themselves

欧盟必须更紧密地团结起来，否则就让各国自生自灭吧

Mar 19th 2020 |

“MORE EUROPE” is the invariable mantra for the European Union’s most devout believers. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is particularly fond of the phrase, usually as a solution to the pressing geopolitical questions of the day. The answer to a rising China? More Europe. A response to a wayward Washington? More Europe. “The world is calling for more Europe,” declared Mrs von der Leyen after her selection last summer. “The world needs more Europe.”

“更多的欧洲”是欧盟最虔诚的信徒们不变的口头禅。欧盟委员会总统的Ursula von der Leyen特别喜欢用这个词，通常用来解决当今紧迫的地缘政治问题。也许这就是中国崛起的秘诀?更多的欧洲。用来回击任性的华盛顿？更多的欧洲。“世界在呼唤更大的欧洲，”von der Leyen女士在去年夏天当选后宣称。“世界需要更大的欧洲。”

词汇

mantra /口头禅；颂歌

wayward/任性的；不规则的；刚愎的

Faced with the covid-19 pandemic, however, the commission has so far opted for a different tactic: less Europe. It has focused on getting the EU out of the way of national governments. Fiscal rules are being quietly abandoned, allowing national governments to spend heroic amounts to allay the crisis. State-aid rules, which stop governments from flooding pet businesses with cash, are being loosened. Some €37bn ($41bn) of funds earmarked for the structural projects that make up the humdrum daily business of the EU budget can be spent on keeping people alive instead.

然而，面对covid-19疫情，欧盟委员会迄今选择了一种不同的策略:缩小欧洲。它一直致力于让欧盟摆脱国家政府的束缚。财政规则正悄然被抛弃，允许各国政府大举支出以缓解危机。阻止政府向宠物企业注入大量现金的国家援助规定正在放松【这里pet businesses不知道有没有其他意思，但字面就是宠物/兽业】。（欧盟）拨出约370亿欧元(合410亿美元)用于结构性项目的资金，这些资金用于补给欧洲各国使得人们正常生活的资金预算。

词汇

Heroic/夸张的

Humdrum/单调的；无聊的

Budget/预算

From one perspective, covid-19 torpedoes the logic of “more Europe”. At its heart was a belief that a body like the EU is the only means of survival in a globalised world. In comparison, the bog-standard nation-state—developed to fend off the miserable Hobbesian state of nature—seems dated and almost vulgar. A pandemic, however, is a nasty blast from this ugly past. The EU evolved to deal with a post-modern world, where borders blurred and markets ruled. Pandemics are a pre-modern problem, best solved by the tool that brought order to a brutish world: the modern state.

从一个角度来看，covid-19颠覆了“更多欧洲国家”的逻辑。它的核心是一种信念，即像欧盟这样的机构是在全球化世界中生存的唯一手段。相比之下，为了抵御悲惨的陷入泥潭的自然状态而发展起来的标准的民族国家似乎过时了，而且几乎是庸俗的。然而，流感爆发是这段丑陋历史的一次可怕冲击。欧盟的演变是为了应对一个边界模糊、市场主导的后现代世界。流行病是一个前现代的问题，最好的解决方法是给这个野蛮的世界带来秩序的工具:现代国家。

词汇

Torpedo/破坏

Bog/陷于泥潭，动弹不得

Hobbesian/霍布斯主义（“性恶论”，主权在君主张）

fend of/避开

vulgar/粗俗的；通俗的

nasty/极差的；恶心的

brutish/  粗野的；残忍的

Keeping people safe is, after all, a state’s primary concern. Health is the purview of national governments, according to the EU’s treaties. Previous European crises festered in the cracks between national and EU responsibility. Monetary union without a fiscal union left a wound that turned gangrenous. Introducing a passport-free Schengen zone without a functioning European asylum system was another example of half-baked federalism. Often, Brussels is left with responsibility for a topic but not the power to do anything. In this case, responsibility is clear. The actions of national governments will determine how many live or die. Complaining that the EU is failing to help on health matters is akin to buying a cat and moaning when it will not fetch a stick.

毕竟，保证人民的安全是一个国家的首要任务。根据欧盟条约，卫生是各国政府的职责范围。之前的欧洲危机在国家责任和欧盟责任的夹缝中溃烂。没有财政联盟的货币联盟留下的伤口已经变成了坏疽。引入免护照的申根区，却没有一个有效的欧洲庇护体系，是另一个不成熟的联邦制的例子。通常，留给布鲁塞尔的是一个议题的责任，而不是做任何事情的权力。在这种情况下，责任是明确的。各国政府的行动将决定有多少人生存或死亡。抱怨欧盟没能在健康问题上提供帮助，就像买了一只猫，却为它不能把棍子衔回来而抱怨。

词汇

Purview/范围，权限

Fester/溃烂

Asylum/庇护；收容所

Gangrenous/  坏疽的，腐败的

When not pursuing “less Europe”, the EU can be most efficient by maintaining the same amount of Europe. Each country will simultaneously face colossal strains on its health service. A functioning single market can churn out medical equipment more efficiently than states going every man for themselves. Yet already accusations of hoarding are flying, while traffic jams build up on intra-EU frontiers after panicky border closures. If goods disappear and markets collapse in a crisis, then old-fashioned autarky starts to appeal and the allure of the EU’s slick trading system fades. Keeping national governments from actively working against one another would be triumph enough for Brussels.

当不追求“更小的欧洲”时，欧盟可以通过维持同样数量的欧洲来达到最高效率。每个国家的医疗服务将同时面临巨大的压力。一个运转良好的单一市场能够比那些每个人都为自己服务的国家更有效地生产医疗设备。然而，关于囤积的指控已经满天飞，而欧盟内部在恐慌的边境关闭后，边境上的交通堵塞也越来越严重。如果商品消失，市场在危机中崩溃，那么老式的自给自足就会开始吸引人，欧盟灵活的贸易体系的吸引力就会消失。对布鲁塞尔来说，阻止各国政府积极地相互对抗就已经是足够的胜利了。

词汇

Colossal/巨大的；异常的

churn out/艰苦地做出；大量炮制

autarky/自给自足

allure/引诱力

For the optimists, however, this is a perfect moment for the “more Europe” mantra. So-called coronabonds would allow struggling euro-zone states to fund themselves with debt guaranteed by the bloc as a whole. Such an idea is often floated as a cure for the euro-zone’s ills. Countries such as Italy, whose borrowing costs have shot up, love the idea; those who would probably end up paying, such as the Netherlands and Germany, have historically been far less keen. Attitudes could shift. A pandemic comes without the moral baggage of borrowing and the caricatures of feckless Italians running up debts. It is a natural disaster, endured by all.

然而，对于乐观主义者来说，这是“更欧洲化”口号的完美时刻。所谓的“coronabond”将允许苦苦挣扎的欧元区国家用整个欧元区担保的债务为自己提供资金。这种想法经常被认为是治疗欧元区弊病的良方。意大利等借贷成本飙升的国家喜欢这个主意;那些最终可能会付出代价的国家，如荷兰和德国，在历史上远没有这么热心。态度转变。没有借贷的道德包袱，也没有无能的意大利人欠下债务的漫画，这次疫情就来了。这是一场自然灾害，所有人都要承受。

The European Central Bank, based in Frankfurt, has now done its bit for “more Europe”. It launched a €750bn bond-buying programme late on 18th March. Unlike with earlier schemes from the central bank, Greece’s debt, previously excluded, will be eligible for purchase. After bungling her initial response to the crisis, ECB chief Christine Lagarde issued a belated guarantee: “There are no limits to our commitment to the euro.” The statement was a homage to the mantra of her predecessor, Mario Draghi, who said he would do “whatever it takes” to save the euro.

总部位于法兰克福的欧洲央行(ecb)如今已为“更欧洲化”尽了自己的一份力。3月18日晚些时候，欧洲央行启动了7500亿欧元的债券购买计划。与之前欧洲央行的计划不同，此前被排除在外的希腊债务将有资格购买。欧洲央行行长克里斯蒂娜•拉加德(Christine Lagarde)在对危机最初的应对不力之后，发表了一份迟到的保证:“我们对欧元的承诺是无限的。”这一声明是对她的前任马里奥德拉吉(Mario Draghi)的颂歌的致敬。德拉吉曾表示，他将“不惜一切代价”拯救欧元。

Yet not all EU leaders are as happy to seize the “more Europe” moment. Some are chomping at the bit. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, applauded the ECB and called for “greater financial solidarity” in the euro zone. Other leaders were muted. In meetings behind closed doors, EU leaders agreed to stick with the “whatever it takes” formulations beloved by the ECB but have offered few actions to back up the words. At the moment, the phrase is used in the same way children say “open sesame!”. Monetary policy is only one half of the solution. A co-ordinated fiscal response at a European level is still necessary for leaders to dig themselves out. It is not guaranteed to happen.

然而，并非所有欧盟领导人都乐于抓住“更欧洲化”的时机。有些人等不及了。法国总统埃马纽埃尔•马克龙(Emmanuel Macron)对欧洲央行表示赞赏，并呼吁欧元区“加强金融团结”。其他领导人保持沉默。在闭门会议中，欧盟领导人同意坚持欧洲央行所钟爱的“不惜一切代价”的措辞，但几乎没有采取什么行动来兑现承诺。现在，这个短语和孩子们说“芝麻开门”的用法一样。货币政策只是解决方案的一半。各国领导人仍有必要在欧洲层面采取协调一致的财政应对措施，以摆脱困境。而这不一定能办妥。

Leviathan unleashed

利维坦的逻辑

If European leaders spurn “more Europe” on the fiscal level, then at least they should remove the manacles that fetter Leviathan. Shackling the state was not some Lilliputian scheme by small-minded bureaucrats. The EU has reined in the worst impulses of national governments, first in the name of peace, by binding economies so closely together that war was impossible; then, with the aim of prosperity, by stopping them running huge deficits or pouring mad amounts of money into airlines because they have the national flag on the tail-fin. Deficits and bungs are petty concerns in the face of mass death. The state must be unbound.

如果欧洲领导人在财政层面上拒绝“更大的欧洲”，那么他们至少应该解除束缚利维坦的枷锁。束缚国家的不是那些心胸狭窄的官僚们的小人国计划。欧盟以和平的名义，将各国经济紧密地捆绑在一起，使战争成为不可能;然后，以繁荣为目标，通过阻止它们出现巨额赤字或向航空公司投入巨额资金，因为它们的尾鳍上挂着国旗。面对大规模死亡，财政赤字和财政漏洞都是鸡毛蒜皮的小事。国家必须摆脱束缚。

词汇

Shackle/束缚；桎梏

Lilliputian/小人国的

Covid-19 will offer the most brutal test not of the EU but of Europe’s member-states. Without the EU finally binding itself together fiscally, it will be left to individual states to write the cheques that stop their economies choking. It will be states that deal with the sick. It will be states that take the blame from the bereaved. “More Europe” offers a tantalising solution to the EU’s latest crisis. But “less Europe” must also have its role. ■

Covid-19将提供最残酷的考验，不是对欧盟，而是对欧洲成员国。如果欧盟不最终在财政上团结起来，就得由各个国家来开出支票，以阻止它们的经济窒息。处理病人的将是各州。国家将承担失去亲人的人的责任。“更大的欧洲”为欧盟最近的危机提供了一个诱人的解决方案。但“小欧洲”也必须扮演自己的角色。■

词汇

Bereaved/丧失亲人的人