評論
打印
The European Commission
歐盟委員會
Friends in the right places
處在正確位置的朋友
The British are down, the Germans and east Europeans are up
英國勢力不在，德國和東歐的勢力崛起
“I AM French, I am deeply French, but here I will stand as a European commissioner.” Thus Pierre Moscovici, a French former finance minister, when seeking the European Parliament's approval as economics and finance commissioner this autumn. Commission officials similarly plead European ambitions over national interests. But home ties are hard to break, so governments are keen to place their own in key posts.
“我是一個法國人，一個純正的法國人，但我現在以歐盟委員會的身份站在這里。”今年秋天，法國前財政部長皮埃爾·莫斯科維奇在尋求歐洲議會批準其為經濟和金融委員的時候如是說。委員會官員同樣辯解稱歐盟發展大于國家利益。但是國家情結很難打破，因此各國政府都力爭謀求歐盟委員會的關鍵職位。
New members have made their mark in recent years (see left-hand chart). Italy's representation has plummeted from almost 25% of the total in the 1980s. As host country, Belgium still does well. But the most striking recent trend has been the rise of Poland and Romania. In 2011 Poland slipped ahead of Britain, which now accounts for just 4.5% of the commission's total staff.
歐盟新成員國在最近幾年里取得了很大的進步（見左邊圖表）。意大利代表在歐盟委員會中的比例自19世紀80年代的25%暴跌至今。作為東道國，比利時仍然表現不錯。但是近來最令人驚嘆的變化是波蘭和羅馬尼亞代表人數在歐盟委員會中的上升。2011年，波蘭代表在委員會中所占職位比例首次超過僅占4.5%的英國。
The old guard clings on at the top, however. At the end of 2013, of the 128 most senior positions, Germany held 20, Britain 13 and France 11. German influence in commissioners' private offices (cabinets) has risen in the new commission led by Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker (whose chef de cabinet is German). Germany is also seen as dominant in the European Parliament.
但是老牌大國仍然堅守在歐盟委員會的頂端。2013年末，在128名最高級的職位中，德國占據了20個，英國13個以及法國11個。在由盧森堡的讓 - 克洛德·容克（他的內閣大臣是德國人）領導的委員會中，德國在私人辦公室（即內閣）的影響力逐漸上升。德國也被視為歐洲議會的主導者。
What about the future? Intriguingly, for junior administrative grades, the top two countries are now Poland and Romania. France is struggling to keep up—its influence in Brussels is declining. Britain does even worse at junior than at senior level, with a share of below 3% (see right-hand chart). As one senior official says, the commission can attract the brightest and best from newer members, but struggles to do so from Britain.
未來又會怎么樣呢？有趣的是，對于初級的行政級別，現在所占人數比例最多的兩個國家是波蘭和羅馬利亞。法國正在努力追趕——它在歐盟的影響力正在下降。英國人在初級職位上所占的比例比高級職位更少，甚至低于3%（見右邊圖表）。一個高級官員說到，歐盟委員會可以吸引新成員國最聰明最好的人才，但是在英國卻不吃香。
One problem is Britons' poor foreign-language skills (job applicants must speak at least two). This is aggravated, ironically, by today's preponderance of English in the work of EU institutions. The risk of a British exit after a referendum also makes the commission a shaky career choice. Young Britons are drawn to China or America instead. The British government's attempt to do better is not working, either: since it relaunched its “EU fast stream” process with much fanfare in 2010, not a single candidate has gone on to join the commission.
問題之一是英國人蹩腳的外語能力（歐盟委員會申請人必須會兩門語言以上）。諷刺的是，如今英國人在歐盟機構工作的優勢更加使他們的外語能力愈發差勁。公投后英國有可能退出歐盟的風險同樣讓英國人把歐盟委員會列入不穩定的職業選擇。相反，之前年輕的英國人所在的崗位吸引了大量的中國人和美國人。英國政府試圖改善的措施也并不見效。自從政府于2010年大張旗鼓地重新啟動“歐盟快流”計劃以來，沒有一個候選人加入歐盟委員會。譯者：胡雅琳 校對：邵夏沁
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