本周封面故事 | 法国政府崩溃：政治危机与经济挑战

财富 2024-12-09 08:03 浙江

写在前面

1.重点单词

wreckage - 残骸，废墟

implosion - 内爆，崩溃

grimacing - 做鬼脸的

gargoyle - 滴水嘴雕像

impasse - 僵局

obscure - 晦涩的，不清楚的

frugality - 节俭

pithier - 简洁有力的

astonishing - 令人惊讶的

paltry - 微不足道的

prestidigitator - 魔术师

immiseration - 贫困化

exuberant - 热情洋溢的

2.词组

minority government - 少数派政府

snap election - 突然选举

budget deficit - 预算赤字

fiscal burden - 财政负担

political theatrics - 政治作秀

online casinos - 在线赌场

tribal reservations - 印第安保留地

economic immiseration - 经济贫困化

3.固定搭配

draw on - 持续进行

mired in crisis - 陷入危机

face reality - 面对现实

fan discontent - 煽动不满

drift to the extremes - 走向极端

catch up with - 赶上

put guardrails in place - 设置防护措施

place your bets - 下注吧

4.文章概述：

法国政府在国民议会通过不信任动议后崩溃，总理米歇尔·巴尼耶成为法国第五共和国历史上任期最短的总理。法国现在面临着一系列短命的少数派政府，难以实现任何实质性改革。这种政治僵局是由于多数政党无法在议会中占据多数，导致政府难以推行预算和经济改革。巴尼耶试图通过紧缩预算减少6%的财政赤字，但遭到右翼和左翼政党的强烈反对。法国的财政赤字和债务利息问题进一步恶化，预计2024年的财政赤字将超过6%的GDP，远高于欧盟允许的3%上。

5.问题（如何读完文章能很快回答这几个问题，证明我们真正读懂了这篇文章）：

Q1: Why was French Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government ousted?

A: Because the National Assembly passed a no-confidence motion against the government, mainly due to strong opposition from right-wing and left-wing parties to its budget reform plans.

Q2: What are the main economic challenges France is currently facing?

A: France is facing high budget deficits and significant debt interest payments, with the 2024 budget deficit expected to exceed 6% of GDP.

Q3: What are the implications of this political crisis for France?

A: The crisis has led France into a period of great uncertainty, making it difficult to form a stable government and implement budget and economic reforms.

精读|翻译|词组

Cover Story

How we chose this week’s image

We had two covers this week. In Europe we examined the wreckage of French politics amid a government collapse. In America and Asia we reported on a boom in gambling.

As the week drew on, it became increasingly clear that Michel Barnier would become the shortest-serving prime minister in the history of the Fifth Republic. Sure enough, on Wednesday evening, his government was sacked by the parliament. With no party or alliance close to a majority in the National Assembly, France now faces a series of short-lived minority governments that will struggle to accomplish anything.

Amid the political implosion, 50 national leaders were due to assemble in Paris to witness France at its best. They would be celebrating the reopening of Notre Dame, Paris’s 12th-century Gothic cathedral, gutted by fire five years ago but now restored with astonishing speed and loving skill.

Our first thoughts were to bring these contrasting events together. We started with a cathedral rising from the rubble, but that was too triumphant for a country that is mired in crisis.

We tried France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, as a grimacing gargoyle. It was his terrible miscalculation to call a snap election six months ago that led to this impasse—which, the constitution says, cannot be broken by another poll until July at the earliest.

However, the drama goes broader than Mr Macron, and we thought that the allusion to Notre Dame’s roof-top statuary might be obscure.

This coq inattentif is an alternative. France’s underlying problem is that most voters are unwilling to face economic reality. This year the budget deficit is forecast to exceed 6% of GDP. Mr Barnier, at Mr Macron’s behest, was trying to fix that by bringing down the deficit by a percentage point or so. Yet even that was too much for the hard-right National Rally party and the left-wing alliance. They would rather chase power by fanning popular discontent.

This Metro sign was pithier. For the final cover, our artist did an excellent job of setting it in a Haussmannesque boulevard.

It is hard to see how France can resolve its problems. Until voters rediscover the merits of frugality, they will go on voting for the fantasies peddled by the extremes. President after president has failed to get the budget under control. An ageing population and growing threats to national security mean that the fiscal burden will grow. The country’s obstructive political theatrics are accelerating the drift to the extremes.

As our editorial observed, in one way or another, much of Europe is caught in the same wretched trap.

The surge in gambling in America is quite astonishing. This year Americans are on track to wager nearly $150bn on sports, having bet a paltry $7bn in 2018. Another $80bn is being bet in online casinos; in the few weeks when election gambling was legal before the presidential vote, hundreds of millions of dollars were placed on the outcome. Our cover was about what to make of it all.

In part America’s boom reflects the fact that it is catching up with the rest of the world. For decades Uncle Sam confined gambling to casinos, which themselves were restricted to Las Vegas, tribal reservations or riverboats.

This design illustrates the other reason for the boom, which is technology. The ability to bet using your smartphone, and from the stadium or the comfort of your own sofa, has boosted bookmakers and online casinos everywhere.

The design is clever, but the smartphone at the bottom of the pack is hard to make out—and besides, these hands seem to belong to a prestidigitator rather than a punter.

In this cover the bettor and the smartphone are much clearer.

Many people see gambling as a vice that ensnares the poor. For them, taking a punt is an indicator of economic immiseration, and the loosening of prohibitions is a mistake that must be corrected as soon as possible.

For us, freedom is not only measured by speech and political liberty, but also by the ability to spend your money as you wish. It is true that, for some, gambling is a ruinous addiction and that America has a habit of rushing into liberalisation before it has put enough guardrails in place. However, the lesson from other countries is not to ban gambling altogether, but to regulate it. That is how America treats other vices, like alcohol, which are responsible for far more catastrophic harm.

We were keen to get across the idea that the betting boom is partly about sports. Sports-betting is a far cry from sitting at a machine, alone, feeding quarters into a slot. Surveys show that 40% of Americans say they have taken part in what is often a communal activity.

The soccer players are not quite right, though. Although this boom is global, it is at its most exuberant in America. So we switched from soccer to American football and doubled the dice. Place your bets!

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