经济学人下载:查理曼专栏--售卖欧盟护照(1)

Europe
欧洲板块

Charlemagne
查理曼专栏

The right to sell passports
出售护照的权利

A crackdown on “golden passports” raises questions about citizenship the EU would rather not answer
对“黄金护照”的打击引发了有关公民身份的问题，欧盟不愿对此作出应答

An EU passport is one of the most desirable documents on the planet. Its bearer can live and work in 27 different countries, all of them prosperous and peaceful. Many have excellent food, too. In the birthright lottery of citizenship, those with a burgundy ticket marked “European Union” are among the lucky winners. Putting a pricetag on this is hard, but Cyprus has managed it. Invest 2.2m euros ($2.6m) in the island and a Cypriot passport with all the benefits of EU citizenship can be yours. Malta runs a similar (and, at just over 1m euros, rather cheaper) scheme for anyone tired of travelling with papers that open fewer doors.
欧盟护照是世界人民最向往的证件之一。其持有者可以在27个不同国家生活和工作，而且所有这些国家都是繁荣和平的。其中有许多国家盛产美味的食物。在很幸运地拥有出生公民权的人中，那些拥有勃艮第酒红色封皮，且封皮上标注“欧洲联盟”字样的护照的公民是幸运儿。给欧盟护照明码标价是一件很难的事情，但是塞浦路斯做到了。只要你向塞浦路斯岛国投资220万欧元（合260万美元），就可以获得一张该国的护照，并享受欧盟公民身份的所有好处。马耳他国也运行了类似的方案（价格略高于100万欧元，相较要更便宜），该方案适用于那些厌倦了持有只能通行几个国家的签证的公民们。

Not everyone thinks this is a good idea. In a recent speech Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission’s president, mentioned such “golden passports” as one of a list of threats to the rule of law in Europe, alongside judge-nobbling. Her annoyance is understandable. Since anyone with an EU passport can move anywhere in the bloc, a quick buck for the Cypriot government can create problems for the rest of the EU. Cyprus has made 7bn euros from the scheme since its launch in 2013, which amounts to a quarter of the island’s annual GDP. It has sold passports to plenty of rich but disagreeable folk, who are now free to settle in Germany or France.
但并不是每个人都觉得这是好主意。在最近的一次演讲中，欧盟委员会主席乌苏拉·冯·德莱恩提到，这种“黄金护照”是对欧洲法治的一系列威胁之一，同样也侵害着审判。她的烦恼是可以理解的。因为持有欧盟护照的人可以在欧盟成员国的任何地方活动，塞浦路斯政府的快钱会给欧盟其余成员国带来麻烦。塞浦路斯自2013年启动该计划以来，已从中获利70亿欧元，相当于该岛国年度国内生产总值的四分之一。它已经将签证卖给了大批富有却不讨喜的人，这些人现在可以自由在德国或法国定居。

Banning such sales would be popular. But it is no simple matter. Deciding who is and is not a citizen is a jealously guarded right of EU member states. All EU countries issue passports for reasons beyond the bog-standard naturalisation of those who marry a local or live in the country in question long enough to qualify. Some countries hand them out to curry favour with diasporas, atone for historic wrongs or create new voters. Being an EU citizen may come with common rights. But there is stark disagreement among the member states as to who should be allowed to be one.
人们可能会很欢迎禁止此类护照售卖。但这并不是一件简单的事。决定谁是公民，谁不是公民，这是欧盟成员国小心翼翼维护的一项权利。所有的欧盟国家向公民签发护照的理由都会超过一般的入籍标准，公民在与当地人结婚或在有关国家居住时间足够长才能获得入籍资格。一些国家签发护照是为讨好海外侨民，弥补历史上的错误，或者创造新的选民。成为欧盟公民同时会获得共同权利。但是成员国之间对于谁应该获得护照存在着明显的分歧。