奧地利總理辭職 成難民危機犧牲品

The refugee crisis in Europe has claimedits biggest political casualty with the resignation yesterday of WernerFaymann, Austria’s chancellor, in the face of surging support for the country’s far-rightFreedom party.

奧地利總理維爾納•法伊曼(Werner Faymann，見上圖)昨日宣佈辭職，成爲歐洲難民危機造成的迄今最大政治犧牲品。目前奧地利極右翼的自由黨(Freedom party)支持率大幅飆升。

Mr Faymann, who led Austria for more thanseven years, quit after losing the backing of his centre-left Social Democraticparty. It came two weeks after his party’s candidate came fourth in first-roundelections for the largely ceremonial job of president. Freedom party candidateNorbert Hofer led with more than 35 per cent of the vote.

擔任奧地利總理逾7年之久的法伊曼，在失去所在中左翼社會民主黨(Social Democratic party)的支持後宣佈辭職。兩週前，該黨總統候選人在總統大選首輪投票中僅位列第四——儘管奧地利總統在很大程度上是一項禮儀工作。自由黨候選人諾貝特•霍弗(Norbert Hofer)以逾35%的票數處於領先。

The party’s anti-immigrationmessage has resonated with voters alarmed by the influx into Europe of morethan 1m refugees and migrants from Syria and other Middle Eastern and Africancountries over the past year.

自由黨的反移民傾向引發了選民們的共鳴，選民們對過去一年從敘利亞等中東國家及非洲涌入歐洲的逾100萬難民和移民感到恐慌。

The fear in other European capitals is thatthe Freedom party’s success could presage similar upsets elsewhere. In France,National Front leader Marine Le Pen is predicted to outpoll Socialist PresidentFrançois Hollande in next year’s presidential race. In recent German regionalelections, the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party made asignificant breakthrough.

歐洲各國政府擔憂的是，自由黨的成功可能預示着各國也出現類似的“變天”。在法國明年舉行的總統大選中，國民陣線(National Front)領導人馬琳•勒龐(Marine Le Pen)預計將得到超過社會黨總統弗朗索瓦•奧朗德(François Hollande)的選票。在德國近期舉行的地方選舉中，反移民的德國新選擇黨(Alternative für Deutschland)取得了重大突破。

Mr Faymann’s departurehighlighted plunging public support for the Social Democrats and the country’s othermainstream party, the centre-right People’s party. The twohave governed the country since the second world war.

法伊曼的去職凸顯了社民黨及該國另一主流政黨——中右翼的人民黨(People’s party)支持率大幅下滑。自二次結束以來，奧地利政權一直由這兩黨主導。

Mr Faymann was booed during a recent ViennaMay Day rally, traditionally used as a show of strength by Europe’s tradeunions and centre-left parties.

在最近舉行的維也納“五一勞動節”集會上，法伊曼遭到了羣衆的噓聲，而傳統上歐洲工會及中左政黨在這一天展示實力。

“There was public uproar in the [Social Democratic] party against asitting chancellor. “This is really new and it tells you they are in disarray,”said ThomasHofer, a political analyst in Vienna.

維也納政治分析人士托馬斯•霍弗(Thomas Hofer)表示：“社民黨內部出現了反對現任總理的公開呼聲。這真的是前所未有的事情，表明他們陷入了混亂。”

Mr Faymann’s successor will bechosen in consultation with the People’s party, which isgoverning in a “grand coalition”with the Social Democrats —unless the People’s partydecides to break up the coalition and trigger early national elections.

奧地利當前的“大聯合政府”由社民黨與人民黨聯合組成，法伊曼的繼任者將由兩黨磋商決定——除非人民黨決定打破聯合政府，觸發全國大選提前舉行。

Although it is among Europe’s most affluentand stable countries, Austria’s high taxes and public spending are widelycriticised by business leaders — and unemployment is rising. The chancellor’sSocial Democratic allies “did not perceive him as a winner any more”, said MrHofer.

雖然奧地利是歐洲最富裕、最穩定的國家之一，但該國的高稅收及高公共開支遭到了商界領袖的廣泛批評，而且失業率也在上升。霍弗表示，法伊曼的黨內盟友“不再將他視爲一名贏家”。

Initially Mr Faymann sided with GermanChancellor Angela Merkel in supporting the refugees seeking asylum in Europe.

起初，法伊曼站在德國總理安格拉•默克爾(Angela Merkel)一邊，對到歐洲尋求庇護的難民表示支持。

Most refugees passed through Austria and onto Germany or other destinations, such as Sweden. Nevertheless, the strain onAustria’s infrastructure and voters’fears that thegovernment had lost control over the inflows forced a policy reversal.

大多數難民經由奧地利去往德國或其他目的地，如瑞典。然而，奧地利基礎設施承受的壓力以及選民擔憂政府已失去對難民涌入的控制，迫使奧地利政府不得不轉變政策。

Earlier this year Austria secured agreementwith neighbouring countries on blocking immigration flows along the so-called “Balkan route”.

今年早些時候，奧地利與周邊國家簽署協議，旨在阻止移民沿着所謂的“巴爾幹路線”(Balkan route)涌入歐洲。