英国退欧“离婚协议”在最后关头受阻

Brexit divorce derailed at 11th hour as May allies snub Irish border deal
英国退欧“离婚协议”在最后关头受阻

A carefully choreographed divorce deal between London and Brussels was derailed at the eleventh hour yesterday after Northern Ireland’s hardline Unionists rejected Theresa May’s agreement potentially to keep the province aligned with EU law after Brexit.

昨日，伦敦和布鲁塞尔之间精心拟定的一项“离婚协议”在最后关头受阻，原因是北爱尔兰立场强硬的统一派拒绝接受特里萨•梅(Theresa May)的协议，该协议可能使北爱尔兰地区在英国退欧之后继续实行欧盟法律。

Mrs May, who travelled to Brussels to finalise the agreement with Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president, was forced to back away after the pro-Brexit Democratic Unionist party objected that it would prevent Northern Ireland from leaving the EU “on the same terms” as the rest of the UK.

已经前往布鲁塞尔与欧盟委员会主席让-克洛德•容克(Jean-Claude Juncker)敲定这项协议的英国首相被迫放弃。支持英国退欧的民主统一党(Democratic Unionist Party, DUP)表示反对该协议，理由是该协议将阻止北爱尔兰与联合王国的其他地区“以相同的条款”离开欧盟。

The DUP provides the UK prime minister with her majority in parliament and it accused the Irish Republic, which had been engaged in weeks of talks with Mr Juncker and Mrs May to secure yesterday's divorce pact, of improperly meddling in Northern Ireland politics.

民主统一党的支持使英国首相在议会拥有多数席位。该党指责爱尔兰共和国不适当地插手北爱尔兰政治；此前爱尔兰同容克和梅进行了持续数周的商谈，好不容易谈成昨日的“离婚协议”。

Dublin is insisting Brexit does not create a hard border with Northern Ireland, potentially undermining the 1998 peace accord that ended the Troubles.

爱尔兰方面坚持要求，英国退欧不能导致爱尔兰共和国与北爱尔兰之间出现“硬边界”，潜在破坏1998年达成的、终结了北爱尔兰问题的和平协议。

“Despite our best efforts and significant progress . . . it was not possible to reach a complete agreement today,” said Mr Juncker after the talks with Mrs May broke down. “This is not a failure, this is the start of the very last round.”

“尽管我们尽了最大努力，取得了重大进展……但今天不可能达成一项完整的协议，”容克在与梅的谈判破裂后表示。“这不是失败，这是最后一轮的开端。”

He added that he still expected divorce talks to make sufficient progress by an EU summit next week, so that the two sides could begin phase two talks on EU-UK relations and a transition deal, which is keenly sought by business.

他补充说，他仍然期待分离谈判能够在下周举行欧盟峰会之前取得充分进展，以便双方可以启动第二阶段谈判，讨论欧英关系以及商界大力呼吁的过渡协议。

The deal was blocked after Mrs May failed to secure the support of Arlene Foster, the leader of the pro-Brexit DUP, in a phone call made from the commission’s Berlaymont headquarters.

梅在布鲁塞尔贝尔莱蒙大厦(Bâtiment Berlaymont)的欧盟委员会总部致电支持退欧的民主统一党领导人阿琳•福斯特(Arlene Foster)，寻求支持，没想到后者不答应，致使协议受阻。

Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s prime minister, said that he was “surprised and disappointed” the UK was not in a position “to conclude what was agreed”. He added that Mrs May had asked for more time, and that he believed she was negotiating “in good faith”.

爱尔兰总理利奥•瓦拉德卡(Leo Varadkar)表示，他对联合王国不能“就已经同意的东西达成协议”感到“意外和失望”。他补充说，梅要求更多时间，而他相信她“带着诚意”进行谈判。

Yesterday’s failure endangers the planned timetable for the run-up to the EU summit, reducing time available for member states to develop guidelines on future trade negotiations. Donald Tusk, the European Council president, tweeted that agreement was still possible but said “it is now getting very tight”.

昨日的挫败危及欧盟峰会之前本来安排好的时间表，缩短了成员国可用来拟定未来贸易谈判指导方针的时间。欧洲理事会主席唐纳德•图斯克(Donald Tusk)在Twitter上写道，仍有可能达成协议，但是“现在在时间上搞得非常紧张”。

The setback also puts at risk draft compromises painstakingly worked up in recent weeks, which must now be revisited in light of DUP objections that, if ignored, would threaten Mrs May’s parliamentary majority.

这一挫折也危及最近几周煞费苦心拟定的妥协方案。面对民主统一党的反对，现在必须重新审议这些妥协；如果不理会该党的意见，梅在议会的多数席位将受到威胁。

Mrs May is expected to hold further talks with the DUP today and has cleared her diary for a possible return to Brussels tomorrow. “I am confident that we will conclude this positively,” Mrs May said. But Tory MPs were dismayed she had failed to nail down Mrs Foster’s support before presenting the proposal. “I find the whole thing quite inexplicable, that you would go to Brussels ready to table a proposal that you haven’t squared,” said a Tory Eurosceptic MP.

预计梅今日将与民主统一党举行进一步商谈，她已在日程表上为明日可能返回布鲁塞尔做好了安排。“我相信我们会积极地完成这件事，”梅表示。但是保守党议员们对于梅未能在提交建议之前争取福斯特的支持感到沮丧。“我发现整件事情匪夷所思，有人竟然准备去布鲁塞尔提交一个自己尚未征得同意的提案，”持疑欧立场的一名保守党议员表示。

译者/和风