困局:歐洲或因債務危機失去年輕一代

Europe has spent hundreds of billions of euros rescuing its banks but may have lost an entire generation of young people in the process, the president of the European Parliament said.

歐洲議會議長最近表示，儘管歐洲已經花費了幾千億歐元來援救其銀行業，但可能在這一過程中失去了整整一代年輕人。

Since the region's debt crisis erupted in Greece in late 2009, the European Union has created complex rescue mechanisms to prop up distressed countries and their shaky banking sectors, setting aside a total of 700 billion euros.

自歐洲債務危機於2009年末在希臘爆發以來，歐盟創設了一套複雜的援救機制來支撐受困國家及其搖搖欲墜的銀行業，該機制的認繳資本總額高達7000億歐元。

But little has been done to tackle the devastating social impact of the crisis, with more than 26 million people unemployed across the EU, including one in every two young people in Greece, Spain and parts of Italy and Portugal.

但在應對債務危機所帶來的嚴重社會影響上，歐盟幾乎毫無作爲。整個歐盟有超過2600萬人失業，在希臘、西班牙、意大利以及葡萄牙的部分地區，年輕人失業率高達50%。

That crippling level of unemployment has led to protests and outbreaks of violence across southern Europe, raising the threat of full-scale social breakdown, including rising crime and anti-immigrant attacks that can further rattle unstable governments.

失業率高企導致南歐國家頻頻爆發抗議和暴力活動，社會全面崩潰的危險上升，包括犯罪率以及反移民攻擊行爲增加，這些也進一步對本已不穩定的政府構成威脅。

"We saved the banks but are running the risk of losing a generation," said Martin Schulz, a German socialist who has led the European Parliament, the EU's only directly elected institution, since January last year.

馬丁?舒爾茨說：“我們挽救了銀行業，但可能會失去一代人。”社會黨人馬丁·舒爾茨去年1月正式就任歐洲議會議長，歐洲議會是歐盟唯一一個直接選舉產生的機構。

"One of the biggest threats to the European Union is that people entirely lose their confidence in the capacity of the EU to solve their problems. And if the younger generation is losing trust, then in my eyes the European Union is in real danger," he told the reporters in an interview.

他在一次採訪中告訴記者：“歐盟所面臨的最大威脅之一，是人們對歐盟解決問題的能力完全喪失了信心。如果年輕的一代失去了信任，那麼在我看來，歐盟正處於真正的危險之中，”

Figures released last week showed 57 percent of Greeks aged 15 to 24 are out of work, and a similar scourge is tearing apart the fabric of Spain, where some university graduates in their 30s have never had a job.

上週公佈的數據顯示，在希臘15至24歲的年輕人中失業率高達57%。而同樣的災難也在撕裂西班牙的社會體系，該國一些30多歲的大學畢業生還從未找到過工作。

European Union heads of state and government will discuss the fallout from the debt crisis at a summit on March 14-15.

3月14日至15日召開的峯會上，歐盟各國元首將就歐債危機的後果進行討論。

"If we have 700 billion euros to stabilize the banking system, we must have at least as much money to stabilize the young generation in such countries," he said.

舒爾茨說：“如果我們拿出7000億歐元的資金來穩定銀行業，那麼我們必須至少拿出同樣多的錢來穩定這些國家的年輕一代。”