VOA慢速英语:Germany, France Seek 'True European Economic Government'

Eleven countries first began to use the euro in nineteen ninety-nine. Today seventeen of the twenty-seven members of the European Union are in the euro area.
有11个国家在1999年最先开始使用欧元。今天，欧盟27个成员国中有17个国家是属于欧元区。

The euro's foreign exchange value has remained strong against the dollar and other currencies. But economic growth in the euro area was only two-tenths of one percent from April to June. Europe's biggest economy, Germany, grew at half that rate.
欧元对美元和其他货币的汇率一直非常强劲。但是从4月份至6月份，欧元区的经济增长率仅为0.2%。欧洲最大的经济体德国的经济增长速度仅为该数字的一半。

Ireland, Portugal and Greece have all required rescues. Greece received emergency loans twice.
爱尔兰，葡萄牙和希腊都需要救助。希腊已经两次获得紧急贷款。

Debt and other problems in southern Europe remain a big concern. Last week, the European Central Bank bought more than thirty billion dollars in Italian and Spanish debt securities.
在欧洲南部的债务及其他问题仍然是很令人担忧的事情。上周，欧洲央行购买了超过300亿美元的意大利和西班牙债券。

Italy and Spain have yet to recover from the worldwide recession. The purchases of their government debt helped reduce their borrowing costs, but the bank will probably have to act again.
意大利和西班牙还没有从全球的经济衰退中复苏。购买他们的政府债务可以有助于降低他们的借贷成本，但是该银行可能不得不再次采取行动。

On Tuesday German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy met in Paris. They discussed economic governance for the euro area and cooperation on budget and tax policies. Chancellor Merkel said, "We want France and Germany to move closer in terms of fiscal integration." President Sarkozy agreed that the two neighbors must move closer on budget issues.
周二，德国总理默克尔和法国总统萨科齐在巴黎举行会谈。他们讨论了欧元区经济管理，预算和税收政策上进行合作的问题。默克尔表示，“我们希望法国和德国在财政一体化方面加强合作。”萨科齐总统同意两个邻国在预算问题上必须更密切的采取行动。

Their proposal calls for a "true European economic government." It would include the leaders of the seventeen euro countries and would be led by the European Union president. The current president is Herman Van Rompuy of Belgium.  The group would meet at least twice a year.
他们在提案中呼吁建立“一个真正的欧洲经济政府”。它将包括欧元区17个欧元区国家领导人，并由欧盟轮值主席领导。现任欧盟轮值主席是来自比利时的范龙佩。该组织每年将至少召开两次会议。

One goal would be to control budget deficits for euro area countries.  Rules limit the deficits of EU members to three percent of the size of their economies. But many members, including France, have bigger deficits than that.
其中一个目标将是控制欧元区国家的预算赤字。相关规定将把欧盟成员国的赤字限制在经济规模的3%以下。但是，包括法国在内的许多成员国的赤字都远远超过该数字。

The two leaders also proposed a tax on financial dealings in Europe. But they did not support the idea of euro bonds. These would be loans guaranteed by all euro countries instead of only the governments seeking them.
两国领导人还提出了在欧洲征收金融交易税。但他们并不支持发行欧元债券的想法。债券将是由所有欧元区国家担保的贷款，而不仅仅是寻求贷款的政府。

The European Commission says it supports the French and German proposals. The commission proposes and enforces legislation for the EU. On Wednesday, EU spokesman Olivier Bailly said the calls for an economic government were a step in the right direction.
欧盟委员会说，它支持法国和德国的建议。欧委会为欧盟提议并执行立法。上周三，欧盟发言人Olivier Bailly称，呼吁建立经济政府是朝着正确的方向迈出了一步。

OLIVIER BAILLY: "We already mentioned the need to strengthen the economic part of the economic and monetary union.  What is happening now since the beginning of the crisis and what has been announced yesterday as a proposal by France and Germany go exactly in this direction."
Olivier Bailly：“我们已经提到加强这个经济和货币联盟在经济方面的作用的必要性。自危机开始以来都发生了什么，而昨天法国和德国所宣布的提议正是朝着正确的方向迈出了一步。”

But many experts question whether European countries will be willing to surrender individual powers and deal with their debt problems together.
但是许多专家质疑，欧洲国家是否愿意交出各自的权利，转而大家一起联合起来解决债务问题。