奥地利总理辞职 成难民危机牺牲品

The refugee crisis in Europe has claimedits biggest political casualty with the resignation yesterday of WernerFaymann, Austria’s Chancellor, in the face of surging support for the country’s far-rightFreedom party.

奥地利总理维尔纳•法伊曼(Werner Faymann，见上图)昨日宣布辞职，成为欧洲难民危机造成的迄今最大政治牺牲品。目前奥地利极右翼的自由党(Freedom party)支持率大幅飙升。

Mr Faymann, who led Austria for more thanseven years, quit after losing the backing of his centre-left Social Democraticparty. It came two weeks after his party’s candidate came fourth in first-roundelections for the largely ceremonial job of president. Freedom party candidateNorbert Hofer led with more than 35 per cent of the vote.

担任奥地利总理逾7年之久的法伊曼，在失去所在中左翼社会民主党(Social Democratic party)的支持后宣布辞职。两周前，该党总统候选人在总统大选首轮投票中仅位列第四——尽管奥地利总统在很大程度上是一项礼仪工作。自由党候选人诺贝特•霍弗(Norbert Hofer)以逾35%的票数处于领先。

The party’s anti-immigrationmessage has resonated with voters alarmed by the influx into Europe of morethan 1m refugees and migrants from Syria and other Middle Eastern and Africancountries over the past year.

自由党的反移民倾向引发了选民们的共鸣，选民们对过去一年从叙利亚等中东国家及非洲涌入欧洲的逾100万难民和移民感到恐慌。

The fear in other European capitals is thatthe Freedom party’s success could presage similar upsets elsewhere. In France,National Front leader Marine Le Pen is predicted to outpoll Socialist PresidentFrançois Hollande in next year’s presidential race. In recent German regionalelections, the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party made asignificant breakthrough.

欧洲各国政府担忧的是，自由党的成功可能预示着各国也出现类似的“变天”。在法国明年举行的总统大选中，国民阵线(National Front)领导人马琳•勒庞(Marine Le Pen)预计将得到超过社会党总统弗朗索瓦•奥朗德(François Hollande)的选票。在德国近期举行的地方选举中，反移民的德国新选择党(Alternative für Deutschland)取得了重大突破。

Mr Faymann’s departurehighlighted plunging public support for the Social Democrats and the country’s othermainstream party, the centre-right People’s party. The twohave governed the country since the second world war.

法伊曼的去职凸显了社民党及该国另一主流政党——中右翼的人民党(People’s party)支持率大幅下滑。自二次结束以来，奥地利政权一直由这两党主导。

Mr Faymann was booed during a recent ViennaMay Day rally, traditionally used as a show of strength by Europe’s tradeunions and centre-left parties.

在最近举行的维也纳“五一劳动节”集会上，法伊曼遭到了群众的嘘声，而传统上欧洲工会及中左政党在这一天展示实力。

“There was public uproar in the [Social Democratic] party against asitting chancellor. “This is really new and it tells you they are in disarray,”said ThomasHofer, a political analyst in Vienna.

维也纳政治分析人士托马斯•霍弗(Thomas Hofer)表示：“社民党内部出现了反对现任总理的公开呼声。这真的是前所未有的事情，表明他们陷入了混乱。”

Mr Faymann’s successor will bechosen in consultation with the People’s party, which isgoverning in a “grand coalition”with the Social Democrats —unless the People’s partydecides to break up the coalition and trigger early national elections.

奥地利当前的“大联合政府”由社民党与人民党联合组成，法伊曼的继任者将由两党磋商决定——除非人民党决定打破联合政府，触发全国大选提前举行。

Although it is among Europe’s most affluentand stable countries, Austria’s high taxes and public spending are widelycriticised by business leaders — and unemployment is rising. The chancellor’sSocial Democratic allies “did not perceive him as a winner any more”, said MrHofer.

虽然奥地利是欧洲最富裕、最稳定的国家之一，但该国的高税收及高公共开支遭到了商界领袖的广泛批评，而且失业率也在上升。霍弗表示，法伊曼的党内盟友“不再将他视为一名赢家”。

Initially Mr Faymann sided with GermanChancellor Angela Merkel in supporting the refugees seeking asylum in Europe.

起初，法伊曼站在德国总理安格拉•默克尔(Angela Merkel)一边，对到欧洲寻求庇护的难民表示支持。

Most refugees passed through Austria and onto Germany or other destinations, such as Sweden. Nevertheless, the strain onAustria’s infrastructure and voters’fears that thegovernment had lost control over the inflows forced a policy reversal.

大多数难民经由奥地利去往德国或其他目的地，如瑞典。然而，奥地利基础设施承受的压力以及选民担忧政府已失去对难民涌入的控制，迫使奥地利政府不得不转变政策。

Earlier this year Austria secured agreementwith neighbouring countries on blocking immigration flows along the so-called “Balkan route”.

今年早些时候，奥地利与周边国家签署协议，旨在阻止移民沿着所谓的“巴尔干路线”(Balkan route)涌入欧洲。