希腊与债权国谈判局面破裂

Talks aimed at reaching an 11th-hour deal between Greek ministers and their bailout creditors collapsed on Sunday evening after a new economic reform proposal submitted by Athens was deemed inadequate to continue negotiations.

上周日晚，由希腊政府提交的经济改革新方案被视为不宜继续讨论下去，双方谈判走向破裂。这一谈判的目的，是为了促成希腊各部长及其纾困债权国之间达成最后一刻协议。

The breakdown is the clearest sign yet that differences between the two sides may be too wide to breach, increasing the possibility that Athens will not secure the 7.2bn in bailout aid it needs to avoid defaulting on its debts — including a 1.5bn loan repayment due to the International Monetary fund in just two weeks.

此次谈判的破裂释放了迄今最明确的信号，表明双方之间的分歧可能无法弥合，希腊政府无法最终落实72亿欧元纾困援助的可能性大大增加。而这笔资金是希腊政府要避免出现债务违约所亟需的，其中还包括须在两周内向国际货币基金组织(IMF)偿还的一笔15亿欧元的贷款。

Greek negotiators, including Nikos Pappas, aide-de-camp to Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, left the headquarters of the European Commission only 45 minutes after entering the building for what were characterised as a “last try” by one of the eurozone officials involved in the talks.

包括希腊总理亚历克西斯•齐普拉斯(Alexis Tsipras)副手尼科斯•帕帕斯(Nikos Pappas)在内的希腊谈判人员，在进入欧盟委员会(European Commission)总部大楼仅仅45分钟后就离开了这一建筑。参与磋商的一位欧元区官员形容他们的行为是“最后努力”。

A commission spokesman said there remained a “significant gap” between the two sides, amounting to up to 2bn per year, and there was no longer time to reach a “positive assessment” of Greek efforts before a high-stakes meeting of eurozone finance ministers on Thursday.

欧盟委员会一名发言人表示，双方之间依然存在“巨大分歧”，涉及金额总计为最高每年20亿欧元。此外，这位发言人还表示，在周四召开欧元区财长重要会议之前，已没有时间对希腊的努力做出“积极评价”了。

“While some progress was made, the talks did not succeed,” said the spokesman. “On this basis, further discussion will now have to take place in the eurogroup.”

这名发言人表示：“尽管取得了一定进展，这一磋商并未取得成功。在此基础上，欧元区集团必须开展进一步磋商。”

That eurogroup meeting is seen by many officials as the last chance for Athens to secure a deal on an agreed list of the economic reforms its creditors are demanding in order to release the 7.2bn aid tranche before Greece’s EU bailout runs out at the end of the month.

许多官员认为，欧元区财长会议是希腊政府与债权国达成经济改革协议的最后机会，这样才能在针对希腊的欧盟纾困计划月底到期前，发放72亿欧元的援助资金。

Asked as he exited the commission headquarters whether the break-off in talks was a bad sign, Mr Pappas told the Financial Times: “We will see.”

在离开欧盟委员会总部时，帕帕斯被问及这次谈判破裂是不是一个不好的信号。他告诉英国《金融时报》：“这个问题还有待观察。”

Without the endorsement of Greece’s trio of bailout monitors — the commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank — the prospects of an amicable agreement on Thursday is remote, raising the prospect eurozone negotiators may resort to the “take it or leave it” strategy used on Cyprus at a eurogroup meeting two years ago.

如果希腊得不到三个主要纾困监管机构（欧盟委员会、IMF及欧洲央行(ECB)）的背书，周四达成友好协议的可能性将十分渺茫。这一局面令人们猜测，欧元区谈判人员可能会采取两年前在一次欧元区集团会议上对塞浦路斯采取过的策略——“要么接受，要么放弃”。

On that occasion, an ECB representative warned that without a deal, the central bank would be forced to cut all emergency funding to Cypriot banks — essentially laying waste the country’s financial system. There have been similar pressures on the ECB in the past week to take the same stance with Athens.

当时，一名欧洲央行代表警告说，如果达不成协议，该行将被迫削减塞浦路斯各银行发放的紧急援助资金——此举实质上会导致该国金融体系瘫痪。就在上周，欧洲央行也曾遭遇类似压力，要求该行对希腊政府采取类似立场。

One senior official involved in the talks said there could still be a compromise on Thursday if Greek negotiators “go back to Athens and say: ‘Oh shit, we have to do something’.” But the official acknowledged such a U-turn was unlikely.

一名参与谈判的高官表示，如果希腊谈判人员“能够对雅典方面说：‘天哪，我们得做点什么’”，双方仍有可能在周四达成妥协。不过这名官员承认，这种一百八十度的大转弯不太可能发生。