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Ailing Croatia
境況不佳的克羅地亞
A mighty mess
一團(tuán)糟
Croatia is the EU's newest basket case
克羅地亞是歐盟最新的大麻煩
There is a cloud over Dubrovnik
杜布羅夫尼克上空蒙上陰云
THIS month Dubrovnik, Croatia's picturesque Adriatic port city, has been a favourite destination not only of the habitual cruise-ship tourists but also of foreign dignitaries. Within a few days, Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, senior officials from Russia, China, America and New Zealand and almost every single regional foreign minister and president dropped by. Credit for the flurry of visitors goes to Vesna Pusic, Croatia's foreign minister, who is seen at home as a candidate for secretary-general of the UN.
這個(gè)月，克羅地亞風(fēng)景優(yōu)美的亞得里亞海港口城市杜布羅夫尼克不僅是來往觀光游客喜愛的目的地，還獲得了外國高官的青睞。幾天之內(nèi)，德國總理安吉拉·默克里，俄國、中國、美國、新西蘭的高級官員，以及幾乎所有地區(qū)的外交部長和總統(tǒng)都曾到此一游。這批訪客的到來還多虧了被國人視為了聯(lián)合國秘書長的候選人的克羅地亞外交部長普西奇。
Yet, however popular a travel destination, Croatia is not well. The economy is now in its sixth consecutive year of recession. When Zoran Milanovic, the Social Democratic prime minister, took over in December 2011, his government promised painful but necessary reforms. Since then little has happened. Joining the European Union a year ago did not result in the hoped-for boost, partly because the reforms Croatia still needs to do were not the ones required to join the EU, says Senada Selo Sabic, an analyst.
然而，無論克羅地亞是一個(gè)多么熱門的旅游點(diǎn)，它的情況并不樂觀?？肆_地亞經(jīng)濟(jì)如今進(jìn)入了持續(xù)衰退的第六年。當(dāng)社會民主黨總理米蘭諾維奇于2011年12月掌權(quán)時(shí)，他的政府承諾了要進(jìn)行艱辛但有必要的改革。但從那以后幾乎就沒什么動靜了。分析師Senada Selo Sabic說，一年前加入歐盟并未帶來期許的發(fā)展，部分原因是因?yàn)榭肆_地亞待推進(jìn)的改革并不是加入歐盟所需要的。
Ever since the end of the war in 1995, successive governments have pledged to cut Croatia's bloated public sector, and its far too numerous local authorities. But, despite some minor reforms, not one, including the current government, has been willing to take on powerful interest groups such as trade unions, who resist any change affecting them. The latest fight is with public-service cleaning staff who oppose a plan to outsource their work. Tenders for research for oil and gas in the east and drilling in the Adriatic, may yet yield riches, but not for years to come.
自從1995年戰(zhàn)爭結(jié)束，繼任的一屆屆政府都保證要精簡克羅地亞臃腫的公共部門和數(shù)目過多的地方機(jī)構(gòu)。但就算是進(jìn)行了一些小改革，甚至連現(xiàn)政府在內(nèi)，至今都沒誰愿意與強(qiáng)大的利益集團(tuán)較量，比如說抵制任何會波及自己的改變的工會。最近一次沖突是與公共服務(wù)清潔工的，他們反對外包工作的計(jì)劃。對東部油氣和亞得里亞海鉆井的研究投標(biāo)也許到目前為止是盈利的，但未來就不會了。
Croatia is stagnating, says Emil Tedeschi, the head of Atlantic Grupa, one of the few big Croatian companies still expanding, although most of its growth comes from its business outside the Balkans. The country is short of management skills, he says, is overtaxed and the government lacks courage. It has fought corruption and increased tax revenues, but has done nothing to cut bureaucracy or red tape.
Atlantic Grupa的主席Emil Tedeschi說，克羅地亞正處于停滯不前狀態(tài)。Atlantic Grupa是克羅地亞少數(shù)仍在擴(kuò)張的大公司之一，盡管它的發(fā)展大部分都依賴于巴爾干半島外的交易。他還表示，該國缺乏管理技巧，課稅過重，政府也缺乏勇氣。雖已做了反腐和提高稅收的工作，卻對減少官僚作風(fēng)和繁文縟節(jié)無動于衷。
Liquidity is a huge problem. In a restaurant in Zagreb a wine merchant thanks the owner for paying him. “You are the only one,” he says. A man in his mid-thirties, he was full of hope a year ago. Now, he says, he is planning to emigrate to Italy. He will not be alone. Medical staff and other qualified professionals are leaving.
流動性是個(gè)大問題。在薩格勒布的一家餐廳里，一位紅酒商人感謝餐廳老板購買了他的商品。他說：“您是唯一的一位?！边@位約35歲的男人一年前還充滿了希望。而現(xiàn)在，他說，他正計(jì)劃移民到意大利。他并不是唯一的一個(gè)。醫(yī)務(wù)人員和其他的有資質(zhì)的專業(yè)人士也在漸漸離開。
Mr Milanovic has a reputation for intelligence but not for his political skills or communication. He commiserated with victims of the disastrous floods in May by telling them about a burst pipe he once had. A conflict in his cabinet led to a spectacular bust-up with Slavko Linic, then minister of finance. After getting the sack, Mr Linic went on the attack, accusing the prime minister of laziness, nepotism and running the country from restaurants.
米拉諾維奇素以智力超群而聞名，但他的政治技能和溝通能力卻顯得遜色不少。他竟以自己遭遇過的管道破裂之事來安慰五月份受洪澇之災(zāi)的群眾。他的內(nèi)閣沖突導(dǎo)致了與當(dāng)時(shí)財(cái)政部長斯拉夫科·里尼奇的公開決裂。被解雇后，里尼奇繼續(xù)進(jìn)攻，控告這位總理懶惰、任人唯親且在餐桌上管理國家。
A row with Mirela Holy, another former cabinet minister, ended with Ms Holy leaving the Social Democrats and starting her own environmentalist party. The new party came in third at European elections in May, taking 9.4% of votes. Mainly thanks to the split of the left, the parties of the governing coalition were trounced whereas the main opposition, the Croatian Democratic Union, did well. Yet in the eyes of voters all sides are tainted by corruption and most of them are fed up with what they see as a political elite unwilling or unable to extricate their country from the mess it is in.
與另一位前內(nèi)閣部長Mirela Holy的爭吵以Holy女士脫離社會民主黨，組建自己的環(huán)保人士黨結(jié)束。這一新政黨在五月的歐洲議會選舉中排名第三，獲得了9.4%的票數(shù)。這主要得益于左派的分裂，執(zhí)政聯(lián)盟的各黨深受打擊，而主要的反對黨克羅地亞民主聯(lián)盟表現(xiàn)不錯(cuò)。然而在選民眼中，各黨都受到了腐敗侵蝕，大多數(shù)人都受夠了在他們看來是一位政治精英不愿或不能將國家從混亂中解救出來的這一境況。
