The alacrity European leaders showed in congratulating Emmanuel Macron on his emphatic victory said it all. France’s president-in-waiting is an assiduous advocate of openness and internationalism. He is a committed pro-European, who marched on stage on Sunday night to the strains of the EU’s anthem and pledged in his first address to defend the continent’s values and rebuild its links with citizens. Above all, he is not Marine Le Pen.
欧洲领导人在祝贺埃马纽埃尔?马克龙(Emmanuel Macron)取得大胜时溢于言表的欣喜之情,已经说明了一切。这位侯任法国总统是开放精神和国际主义的热情倡导者。他是一位坚定的亲欧派。上周日晚,他在欧盟盟歌声中走上台,在当选后首次讲话中承诺捍卫欧洲大陆的价值观,努力重建欧盟与民众的联系。最重要的一点是,他不是马琳?勒庞(Marine Le Pen)。
Yet the widespread relief at his election — with a commanding 66 per cent of the vote, more than polls had predicted — must be tempered by realism.然而,虽然他当选——得票率高达66%,超出选前民调的预期——让人们普遍松了一口气,这种情绪在现实面前却必须打些折扣。Mr Macron’s achievement, becoming the youngest ever occupant of the Elysée Palace with no experience of elected office and none of the supporting machinery of a traditional political party, is astonishing. He was aided by the implosion of his Republican and Socialist rivals and also, thankfully, by the large majority that remains resolved to deny the far-right power, even if they dislike the alternative.马克龙取得了惊人的成就,他没有担任民选公职的经验,也未得到一个传统政党的支持,却成为史上最年轻的即将入主爱丽舍宫(Elysée Palace)的法国总统。来自共和党和社会党的竞争对手自毁长城,还有,幸运的是,大多数选民仍坚决抵制极右势力,即便他们也不喜欢另一选项。这两点都对他的选情起到了帮助。Mr Macron has shown that it is possible to craft a liberal, centrist response to the populist politics of national identity and protectionism. He has done so, not by adopting any diluted version of the National Front’s ideas, but by appealing to voters’ intelligence. He has steadfastly refused either to accept his opponent’s depiction of a nation doomed to decline or to vie with her in promising the unattainable.马克龙已证明,以自由主义、中间立场的路线来回应关于国家认同和保护主义的民粹主义政治是有现实可能的。他做到了,不是通过采纳国民阵线(National Front)观点的任何稀释版,而是诉诸于选民的智识。他坚决拒绝接受对手关于法国注定要衰落的说法,也绝不跟她比着承诺一些根本做不到的事情。It is reassuring to see there is still an audience for this kind of rational argument — and that voters do not seem to have been swayed by security scares, or by the dubious attempts to discredit Mr Macron online in the campaign’s closing stages. Mainstream politicians had prevailed in the Dutch and Austrian elections and the French vote gives Europe grounds to hope that the populist insurgency has peaked.我们欣慰地看到,这种理性观点仍有支持者,选民似乎没有被安全恐慌或者竞选尾声网络上企图抹黑马克龙的可疑传言所左右。在荷兰与奥地利的选举中,主流政治家已占据了优势,而法国此次选举让欧洲有理由希望,这场民粹主义反叛浪潮见顶了。The president-elect’s battles are only just beginning, of course. He was the first to acknowledge this, warning his supporters of the “immense” task ahead of them.当然,这位当选法国总统的战斗才刚刚开始。他自己第一个承认了这一点,对支持者们警告称,未来面临着“艰巨的”任务。It is a depressing sign of the times that an election in which more than a third of voters backed the leader of an overtly xenophobic party rooted in anti-Semitism should seem cause for celebration. Ms Le Pen won almost twice as many votes as her father did 15 years ago. She is now styling herself as the official opposition. A quarter of the electorate stayed at home and large numbers opted to spoil their ballot. Mr Macron has a huge job ahead of him to restore faith in the possibility of a vital, democratic, prosperous France.在这场选举中,有逾三分之一的选民支持一个根植于反犹主义、公然排外的政党的领导人,而且这样的结果似乎值得庆幸,这实在是这个时代一个令人沮丧的迹象。勒庞的得票率几乎是15年前她父亲的两倍。她如今自诩为正规的反对派。四分之一的选民呆在家里,还有很多人选择投出废票。马克龙的一大任务是重燃人们的信心,让他们相信法国成为一个充满活力、民主和繁荣国度的可能性。His promise is to use his five years in office to ensure that none of those who felt driven to vote for the extremes will have cause to do so again. That will require reforms — of the economy, labour market and public sector — of the kind that successive presidents have attempted and failed to sustain.他承诺将利用在任的5年时间,确保那些想投票给极端者的人再也没有理由那么干。这就需要进行改革,包括经济、就业市场和公共部门改革,历任法国总统都曾尝试过这样的改革,但都未能持久。One advantage of Mr Macron’s repudiation of party politics is that he is not hobbled by promises made to this faction or that during the campaign. He has been forthright and unapologetic about his overall intentions. But to act on them, he will need to legislate. He may have enough momentum for his fledgling En Marche! movement to become the National Assembly’s largest party in next month’s legislative elections but, with the traditional parties regrouping, it is hard to see how he can win an outright majority.
马克龙摒弃政党政治的一个优势是,他不会受制于在竞选中对这一派或那一派的承诺。他向来是直截了当、坚决地表明自己全盘的意图。但要把意愿转化为行动,他需要推动立法。凭借他眼下的声势,他领导的羽翼未丰的“前进”运动(En Marche!)或许能在下月议会选举中成为第一大党,但随着传统政党改组,我们很难看出他如何能赢得绝对多数席位。“I will not let any obstacle stop me,” Mr Macron declared on Sunday night. Let us hope he can pull it off. If he succeeds, he might jolt France out of its deep-seated malaise and restore it as a force for reform and renewal across Europe. If he fails, Ms Le Pen will be back next time.“我不会让任何障碍阻挡住脚步,”马克龙上周日晚宣称。但愿他能做到。如果他成功了,那他也许能带领法国迅速摆脱深陷的困境,让法国重新成为欧洲改革与复兴的一支力量。如果他失败了,勒庞将卷土重来。