歐盟指責美刺激措施爲"通往地獄的路"

European Union hopes for a new era in relations with the US were thrown into chaos yesterday when the holder of the EU presidency condemned American remedies for the global recession as “the road to hell”.
歐盟(EU)希望與美國的關係能開啓新紀元，但隨着歐盟輪值主席昨日譴責美國對全球衰退的補救措施爲“通往地獄之路”，這一希望變得渺茫起來。

Barely a week before Barack Obama is due to arrive in Europe on his first official visit as US president, Mirek Topolanek, the Czech Republic's prime minister, put the 27-nation EU on a collision course with Washington.
捷克總理米雷克·託波拉內克(Mirek Topolanek)令包括27個成員國的歐盟陷於與美國發生衝突的境地，此時距巴拉克·奧巴馬(Barack Obama)以美國總統身份對歐洲進行首次正式訪問不足一週時間。

His attack compounded the confusion that has engulfed EU policy after the Czech leader lost a no confidence vote in the country's parliament on Tuesday,forcing him to offer his government's resignation midway through its six-month EU presidency.
此舉加劇了令歐盟政策備受困擾的混亂局面。此前，這位捷克總理在本週二該國議會上遭遇不信任投票，被迫在爲期6個月的歐盟輪值主席任期中途爲其政府提交辭呈。

Mr Topolanek said EU leaders had been disturbed at a summit in Brussels last week to hear calls from Timothy Geithner, the US Treasury secretary, for more aggressive policies to fight the global downturn.
託波拉內克表示，歐盟領導人上週在布魯塞爾的一次峯會上，聽到了美國財長蒂姆·蓋特納(Tim Geithner)要求採取更積極政策抵禦全球經濟下滑的呼籲，這些領導人對此感到不安。

“The US Treasury secretary talks about permanent action and we, at our spring council, were quite alarmed at that . . . The US is repeating mistakes from the 1930s, such as wide-ranging stimuluses, protectionist tendencies and appeals, the ‘Buy American' campaign, and so on,” he told a European parliament session in Strasbourg. “All these steps, their combination and their permanency are the road to hell.”
託波拉內克在法國斯特拉斯堡的一次歐洲議會會議上表示：“美國財長談到了採取持續的行動，我們在春季峯會上對此深感不安……美國正在重複上世紀30年代的錯誤，例如大範圍的經濟刺激、保護主義傾向和訴求、以及‘購買美國貨'運動等等。所有這些措施結合起來並且持續下去，就是一條通往地獄之路。”

US officials made no comment on the remarks. But the Obama administration says it took great pains to ensure that the Buy American provisions in the $787bn stimulus that the president signed into law last month were consistent with World Trade Organisation rules. It followed, therefore, that any attempt to make them permanent would continue to be consistent with WTO rules.
美國官員未就此番言論置評。但奧巴馬政府表示，它曾煞費苦心的確保7870億美元刺激計劃中的“購買美國貨”條款符合世貿組織(WTO)規定，因此它會力爭任何使這些條款長期存在的舉措都將繼續符合WTO規定。該刺激計劃是在上月由奧巴馬簽署生效的。