歐盟的領導職位
Indecision time
懸而未決之時
European Union leaders squabble but fail to agree on their top jobs
歐盟領導們雖歷經唇槍舌戰，但就領導職位分配問題仍未達成一致意見。
MATTEO RENZI summed it up best. The Italian prime minister suggested that “they just had to send an SMS and we could have saved the cost of the official flight. In any case, it was a nice opportunity to meet and wish Angela Merkel a happy birthday.” Indeed, European Union leaders in Brussels toasted the German chancellor's 60th birthday this week. But they failed to settle the main business: a package of top EU jobs.
Matteo Renzi的概括最到位。這位意大利總理認為“他們發個短信就成了，這樣我們可以省下公務飛行的費用。但不管怎么說，這是個不錯的機會——我見到了 Angela Merke并祝她生日快樂。”確實，在布魯塞爾的歐盟的領導這周為德國總理祝賀60歲生日。不過他們并沒有就主要事務達成一致意見：歐盟的領導職位如何分配的問題。
A day after the European Parliament endorsed the much-contested nomination of Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission, leaders were meant to pick names for the other big posts: the high representative for foreign affairs, the president of the European Council and a new president of the Eurogroup of finance ministers. The stumbling block was Mr Renzi's nomination of Federica Mogherini as the foreign-policy supremo. As Italy's foreign minister of five months, she has barely more experience than Catherine Ashton did when she was named to the post in 2009. But she ran into objections from several eastern European countries, among them Poland and the Baltic states, who see Ms Mogherini as too pro-Russian. It did not help that she visited Moscow just before the summit and talked up the Kremlin-backed South Stream pipeline.
在歐洲議會批準最有爭議的提名候選人Jean-Claude Juncker為歐洲委員會主席之后，領導人要按著名單為其他重要職位選人：有負責涉外事務高級代表，歐洲理事會主席以及歐元集團財政部長的新頭。陷入僵局的由頭是Renzi提名Federica Mogherini為外國政策的掌舵人。2009年當她被提名為外交部長的時候，她只當過五個月的意大利外交部長，就經驗而言比Catherine Ashton好不了多少。但她遭遇了一些歐洲東部國家的反對，其中包括波蘭和波羅的海國家。這些國家認為Mogherini過于親俄了。然而這并不妨礙她就在（布魯塞爾）峰會之前前往莫斯科并大肆宣揚俄國政府支持的南溪天然氣管道項目。
The Mogherini row made it inevitable that the whole package would need to be agreed at the same time so that all could be satisfied. Leaders thus found themselves speaking in circumlocutions. They discussed the balance between left and right, north and south, men and women and, belatedly, east and west—all without mentioning specific names.
對Mogherini的爭議使得同時一次性任命歐盟高級領導并讓諸方滿意的計劃落空。領導人不久發現他們的講話就是兜圈子。他們彼此爭論，要保持左翼與右翼的平衡，要保持北部和南部的平衡，男性與女性的平衡，還有后來加入的東部與西部的平衡——所有這些都要避免提及那些特定的名字。
Ms Mogherini remains the woman to beat. Both Mrs Merkel and France's President Fran?ois Hollande said the high representative should be from the centre-left political group. Whatever their misgivings about the Italian foreign minister, most leaders have other priorities. The British do not want to be at the centre of another fight after losing the bust-up over Mr Juncker; the Germans are more concerned to get the right dealmaker as president of the European Council; and the French want to ensure that their commissioner, Pierre Moscovici, gets a senior economic job in the commission. Mr Juncker, diplomats say, was not ready to make any promises. Herman Van Rompuy, the current president of the European Council, will now consult again before a special summit on August 30th, but doing a deal even then may still be hard.
Mogherini的留下保證了女性勝利。Merkel 和法國總統Fran?ois Hollande認為高級代表應當出自中左翼的政治團體。但是無論他們對意大利外交部長的是否心存疑慮，大部分領導人都有自己的小九九。不列顛不希望在關于Juncker的爭吵失利之后成為另一項斗爭的焦點；德國人更關心選出能正確決策的歐盟理事會主席；而法國想著確保他們的委員Pierre Moscovici能在委員會獲得一個高級經濟席位。外交官稱，Juncker不準備作出任何承諾。直到8月30日一個特殊峰會來臨之際，現任歐盟理事會主席Herman Van Rompuy都將繼續充當顧問。不過恐怕即便那時都難達成一致意見。
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