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The European Commission
欧盟委员会
Lagarde for president
拉加德或将成为欧盟委员会掌门人
If ever Europe needed a competent reformer with new ideas, it is now
如果欧盟需要一个有想法的领导者，就趁现在吧
CHANCES for a new beginning in Europe are rare and should be seized.
对于欧洲来说，重新开始的机会不多，一旦出现，就该紧紧抓住。
In the coming months, after five can-kicking years of crisis and austerity, the European Union will clean out its executive suite and appoint new presidents of the European Commission, as well as a new foreign-policy chief.
在危机中过了5年艰苦的日子后，再过几个月，欧盟将迎来一次大换血，届时目前的行政人员将陆续离职，欧盟委员会和欧洲理事会将有新的首脑走马上任，同时欧盟外交政策负责人也会出现新的面孔。
The EU desperately needs a fresh vision.
如今，欧盟急需注入新的血液。
Its citizens are disenchanted with the remote machinations inside Brussels.
欧盟成员国公民已对布鲁塞尔的种种政策不抱任何幻想，
Insurgent political parties, many of them anti-EU, are snapping at the heels of the centrists.
许多反欧盟政党纷纷开始争取中间派的支持。
If the EU were a company, its board would have been sacked: if it were a football team, it would have been relegated. It needs new leadership.
如果欧盟是个公司，它的董事会早就被炒鱿鱼了；如果欧盟是个足球队，它也早就该被降级了。如今，欧盟需要的是全新的领导班子。
Unfortunately, Europe's leaders have not got the message.
遗憾的是，欧洲各国的首脑们还没意识到这些。
The names being canvassed for commission president include two former prime ministers of smallish countries, Jean-Claude Juncker and Guy Verhofstadt, an assortment of obscure European commissioners and the president of the dysfunctional European Parliament, Martin Schulz of Germany.
目前，欧洲委员会主席的候选人包括来自欧洲小国卢森堡的卢前首相让克洛德·容克和比利时前首相付思达。此外，欧盟委员会专员，欧洲议会议长，德国人马丁·舒尔茨或也会参选。
It is an uninspiring list of Eurocrats, still mouthing nostrums about ever-closer union.
这份竞选名单对欧洲官僚来说并无甚新意，仍旧在唠叨着那些欧洲一体化的老话。
One person—who is not a declared candidate—would be far better: Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF.
而有这么一个人，虽然没有宣布参选，却不失为一个更好的人选：国际货币基金组织总裁拉加德。
She is a French former finance minister, yet her years in Washington dealing with the euro crisis, as well as running a huge law firm in Chicago, give her the clarity of an outsider's view about what is wrong with the EU.
这位女士曾出任法国财长，她在华盛顿任职期间也曾参与应对欧元危机，此外，她还是芝加哥一个大型律所的老板，这些都使她能从一个旁观者的角度看待欧盟现在面临的问题。
A liberal, she would be keen to complete the single market, promote free trade and cut the burden of regulation.
作为一个自由主义者，她或许会热衷于建成单一市场，促进自由贸易，减少管制负担。
She is also a persuasive saleswoman in both French and English, a bonus given her own country's sour view of the EU and Britain's possible referendum on whether to leave.
此外，鉴于法国目前对欧盟酸话颇多，而英国或许也会发起全民公投脱离欧盟，此刻的她也不失为一位法语英语皆能的推销员。
One supposed mark against Ms Lagarde is that, unlike the present commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, and his two predecessors, she has never been elected.
对拉加德来说，她的不足之处也许在于，与现任主席巴罗佐和在他之前的两任欧盟委员会主席不同，拉加德还未参加过任何选举。
But the most effective recent commission president was not a former prime minister, but Jacques Delors, another French former finance minister, who—although for a while a member of the European Parliament—was also a technocrat.
但近年来欧盟委员会最出色的主席并不是某国的前总统，而是德洛尔，他也曾是法国财长，担任过一阵子欧洲专员，此外还是一个专家政治论者。
And the job now needs the skills of a technocrat as much as of a politician.
而如今，欧洲委员会主席一职正需要一个同样是专家政治论者的政客来担任。
The bigger obstacle to Ms Lagarde becoming commission president lies in the Lisbon treaty.
而拉加德竞选道路上最大的阻碍则来自里斯本条约。
This says that the European Council, mindful of European elections, must nominate a candidate whom the European Parliament then “elects” as president.
条约规定，负责欧盟选举的欧洲理事会，必须提名欧洲议会会“选举”为主席的人为候选人。
Political groups in the parliament are exploiting this to put forward their preferred choices now—Mr Schulz for the centre-left Socialists, Mr Verhofstadt for the centrist Liberals and, next month, a front-runner for the centre-right European People's Party who seems likely to be Mr Juncker.
现在，欧洲议会中各政治团体正利用这一规定来兜售他们中意的候选人—中间偏左的社会党人推选舒尔茨，而中间派自由主义者倾向于付思达，下个月，中间偏右的欧洲人民党也将推出自己的实力选手，极有可能就是让-克洛德·容克。
The claim is that this process will seem more democratic to ordinary Europeans.
对于此次的竞选，目前的说法是对于普通欧洲人来说将会更加民主。
Dream on.
但这都是政客们的白日梦。
Most European voters neither know nor care who any of these people are or what they stand for.
大多数欧洲选民既不关心这些人是谁，也不关心他们都代表着谁的利益。
The suggestion that EU leaders should accept the candidate of whichever political group gets most seats in May is a recipe not just for ending up with the wrong person, but also for making the commission even more beholden to the parliament.
有人建议欧盟领导人，无论五月那个党派在欧洲议会获得多数席位，选择该政党的候选人总不会错。这样做不仅能选对人，还能密切欧盟委员会和议会的关系。
Don't let the parliament decide
千万别让议会做主
There is a way through this muddle.
走出泥塘的路只有一条。
As it happens, Ms Lagarde comes from the centre-right EPP, which is likely to remain the biggest group in the parliament.
拉加德所代表的中间偏右的欧洲人民党很可能保持其议会第一大党的地位，
The open support of Europe's three main leaders would probably get her the job.
而欧洲三位主要国家领导人的公开支持很可能使她得到这个职位。
France's president, Franois Hollande, is a Socialist, but he would surely welcome a French president.
法国总统奥朗德虽是社会党人，但他肯定乐于见到一位来自法国的欧洲委员会主席。
David Cameron knows he is far more likely to win a referendum with a reformer like Ms Lagarde as the face of Europe.
卡梅隆也应该晓得，有这样一位改革派领导人在，他将更可能赢得公投。
Angela Merkel also wants a more open Europe, and her policy of appointing dull unknowns to EU posts has hardly been a resounding success.
默克尔也希望欧洲更加开放，而她将沉闷的无名小卒送往欧盟的政策也少有成功。
The argument for Ms Lagarde is similar to that two years ago for making Mario Draghi president of the European Central Bank: he brought outside experience, market knowledge and good ideas.
目前，拉加德出任欧盟委员会主席的优势与两年前德拉吉出任欧洲央行总裁的优势十分相似：他带来了国外经验、市场知识和先进想法。
To many then he seemed tainted by his link to an American investment bank, Goldman Sachs, but he is now the most respected Eurocrat of all.
当时许多人认为他在美国高盛工作的经历会是他竞选路上的减分项，但如今他却是欧盟中最受尊敬的官员。
So ignore the parliament, Mrs Merkel, and pick the best woman for the job.
默克尔女士，别管什么议会，为这一职务选择正确的人选吧。
