英国新首相梅首次会晤默克尔

Angela Merkel, German chancellor, has offered Theresa May some breathing space in preparing her negotiating stance for Brexit, telling her to take her time but adding: “Nobody wants things to be up in the air.”

德国总理安格拉•默克尔(Angela Merkel)向特里萨•梅(Theresa May)提供了一些喘息空间，让英国首相有时间准备她对英国退欧的谈判立场。默克尔告诉她别着急，但补充称：“没人希望事情悬而不决。”

Ms Merkel cut a conciliatory tone in talks about Brexit with Mrs May in Berlin, as the new British prime minister made her first overseas visit since arriving in 10 Downing Street last week.

默克尔在柏林与梅商谈英国退欧时采取了和缓口吻。这是新任英国首相自上周入主唐宁街10号以来首次进行海外访问。

Ms Merkel said: “It is to our advantage to have the UK define its negotiating stance in great detail and clarity.” She added: “To have a good negotiating process and a sensible and constructive one is in all of our interests.”

默克尔称：“让英国非常详尽和明确地界定自己的谈判立场，对我们是有利的。”她补充称：“拥有一个良好的谈判过程，开展一场明智和建设性的谈判，符合我们所有人的利益。”

The German chancellor is resisting pressure from some EU leaders, including European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, to press Mrs May into triggering the Article 50 divorce clause quickly.

德国总理抵挡着来自部分欧盟领导人——包括欧盟委员会(European Commission)主席让-克洛德•容克(Jean-Claude Juncker)——的压力，这些欧盟领导人要求默克尔施压梅尽快触发第50条退欧条款。

Ms Merkel stressed there would be no “formal or informal” negotiations with Britain until Article 50 was activated. Mrs May should be given time to work out what she wanted and to outline how she saw “the future relationship with the EU”.

默克尔强调，在第50条触发前，不会与英国进行“正式或非正式”的谈判。欧盟应该给梅时间想清楚她想要什么，并勾勒出她如何看待英国“与欧盟的未来关系”。

“It is completely understandable that only a few days after the referendum the government will have to take a moment first to try to seek to identify its interests and also have to talk about the other parts of Great Britain,” the chancellor said.

“这是完全可以理解的，在公投没几天后，英国政府将不得不先花时间试图确定自己的利益，同时还得考虑英国其他地区，”默克尔称。

But she indicated that her patience was limited and that leaving Britain’s EU status “up in the air” was not something that “British citizens or European member states want”.

但她表明，她的耐心是有限的，让英国在欧盟的身份“悬而不决”并非“英国公民或欧洲成员国想要”的局面。

Mrs May, who was greeted at the chancellery in Berlin by a military guard of honour, repeated her insistence that Article 50 would not be launched this year; it would happen only after a negotiating stance was ready.

梅重申了她今年不会触发第50条的态度；只有在谈判立场确定后才会触发退欧条款。梅在柏林的总理官邸受到了仪仗队的欢迎。

She said the UK was in no rush to start the two-year process of leaving the EU, saying that although “this would not please everyone”, it was important that there was “clarity” on the UK’s approach.

她称，英国不急于启动为期两年的退欧过程，表示尽管“这不会令所有人高兴”，但是英国“明确”立场十分重要。

Mrs May, who speaks some German, was determined to get relations with Ms Merkel off to a good start, offering a birthday present of two walking guides to the Lake District and Snowdonia: the two leaders share a passion for mountain hiking.

会讲一些德语的梅决心要与默克尔的关系有一个良好的开端，她送给默克尔前往湖区(Lake District)和斯诺多尼亚(Snowdonia)的两本远足指南作为生日礼物：这两位领导人都热爱山间健行。

The visit marked the first formal meeting of Mrs May and Ms Merkel, who are the most powerful female leaders in the world, and both leaders were keen to stress the symbolism of the encounter.

此次访问标志着梅与默克尔这两位世界上权力最大的女性领导人首次正式会面，两位领导人均热衷于强调此次会面的象征意义。

Asked about her first impressions of the German chancellor, Mrs May said: “We are two women who get on with the job and want to deliver the best possible results for the people of Britain and Germany.”

在被问及对德国总理的第一印象时，梅称：“我们都是实干的女性，希望为英国和德国人民取得最佳可能的结果。”