时政新闻翻译

AA 欧洲领导人周四晚拟批准欧盟条约的一项修正条款,以创建一套为负债沉重的国家纾困的新机制。但在欧盟年末峰会上,各国围绕其它危机应对的分歧似乎有所加重。 该修正条款须经全体27个成员国批准,它将允许欧元区国家在2013年创建一只永久性救助基金,这是自从今年初债务危机开始威胁单一货币以来,欧盟在方面最明确的变化。 包括欧洲央行行长和国际货币基金组织(IMF)总裁在内的主要官员呼吁全欧洲对危机采取更立即的应对措施,但奉行审慎财政的核心北方国家不赞同对欧盟危机应对机制进行短期修改。 相反,来自德国、芬兰、荷兰和瑞典等北方国家的高级官员坚决要求欧盟应向所谓的“外围国家”重申财政紧缩的重要性,尽快通过新的预算,对财政不节俭的国家作出处罚。 芬兰财长卡泰宁(Jyrki Katainen)示:“传统上,北方国家对局面抱有相似看法,我认为我们不该期待什么奇迹。” “如果你收不抵支,那么你就必须改变现状。” 在峰会召开之前就流传着各种短期危机解决,包括意大利和卢森堡共同提出的发行欧洲联合主权债券计划;比利时倡导的扩大当前为4400亿欧元(合5820亿美元)的欧元区救助基金规模;受到欧洲央行行长让-克劳德?特里谢(Jean-Claude Trichet)支持的使用救助资金购买危机国家债券的方案。 北方国家的强硬姿态加大了以下可能性:在不对葡萄牙和西班牙等困境经济体进行全面纾困的情况下,欧盟唯一可动用的短期工具,就是欧洲央行以自有资金购买主权债务的计划。欧洲央行似乎已准备接受这一现实,该行周四宣布,在2012年底前其资本规模将从58亿欧元扩大近一倍,至108亿欧元。此举被解读为使该行拥有更大缓冲,以便继续购买希腊、爱尔兰和葡萄牙等国的问题债券。 European leaders expected to approve an amending clause of EU Treaty on Thursday night,so as to establish a new system to help those heavy indebted countries.But in the year-end summit of EU,disagreement on other crisis measures seemed to be deepened. The amending clause ,which should be approved by all 27 members of EU,will allow euro-zone countries to create a permanent assistance fund.This was the most concret change of system of EU since the debt crisis started to threaten single currency early this year. Principal officials including the presidents of European Central Bank and IMF appeal to all the European countries to take immediate crisis measures.However,the core north countries pursuing fiscal prudence disagree on short revision on crisis measures of EU. On the contrary, high officials from the north countries such as Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden,insisted that Eu should reaffirm the importance of fiscal austerity to the alleged periphery countries.Also, new budgetary rule should be created soon that would fine profligate countries. Finnish finance minister Jyrki Katainen said,”Traditionally,northern countries have similar views on the situation and I donnot think miracles should be expected. ”Also,he said,”If there is a deficit ,you have to change the situation.” Before the summit,various short-term crisis measures had ran ,such as the plan of issuing joint European sovereign bonds proposed by Italy and Luxembourg,the plan advocated by Belgium on increasing the euro-zone assistance fund which is 440 billion Euros(about 582 billion dollars) now,the project of perchasing bonds of the crisis-country with assistance fund which is supported by Jean-Claude Trichet,the president of ECB. The hard-line stance of north countries made it more possible:if Eu doesnot help Portugal, Spain and other economies in distress out of trouble completely,the only short-term solution it can implement is to perchase sovereign debt with ECB’s own funds.And ECB seemed to prepare to accept the reality and it declared thisThursday that its capital will have doubled by the end of 2012 from 5.8billion euros to 10.8 billion euros.This move was interpreted as a bigger buffer for ECB so that it can continue to perchase the troubled bonds of Greek ,Irish, Portugal and other countries. European leaders were poised to approve an amendment to European Union treaties last night to create a new bail-out system for debt-laden countries, but national divisions over other measures to halt the eurozone crisis appeared to harden at their year-end summit. The treaty amendment, which must be ratified by all 27 member states, will allow eurozone countries to create a permanent rescue fund in 2013, the most concrete change in EU institutions since the debt crisis began threatening the single currency early this year. In spite of calls by leading officials, including the head of the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, for a more immediate Europe-wide response to the crisis, a core group of northern, fiscally prudent countries resisted calls for short-term changes to the EU response system. Instead, senior officials from these countries – including Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden –have insisted that the EU re-emphasise fiscal austerity in so-called peripheral members and quickly pass new budgetary rules that would fine profligate countries. “Traditionally, the northern countries see the situation similarly and I believe there’s no miracle which we should wait for,” said Jyrki Katainen, the Finnish finance minister. “If you have more expenditures than income, then you have to adjust it.” Ideas for near-term solutions have been floated publicly ahead of the summit, including an Italian-Luxembourg plan for Europe-wide bonds; Belgian advocacy for increasing the size of the cu rrent €440bn ($582bn) eurozone bail-out fund; and support by Jean-Claude Trichet, the ECB chief, for using the bail-out fund to buy bonds from at-risk countries. The strong stance taken by the northern countries makes it more likely that the only near-term tool at the EU’s disposal, short of full-scale bail-outs for troubled economies such as Portugal and Spain, will be the ECB programme of using its own balance sheet to buy sovereign debt. The ECB appeared to gird for that reality by announcing on Thursday that it would nearly double its capital from €5.8bn to €10.8 by the end of 2012, a move interpreted as giving the bank more of a cushion to continue to buy distressed bonds of countries like Greece, Ireland and Portugal.