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　　Europe Italian politics

　　欧洲 意大利政治

　　Will Monti run for prime minister?

　　蒙蒂会竞选总理吗?

　　How to prevent Silvio Berlusconi from returningto power

　　如何防止西尔维奥·贝卢斯科尼重掌大权

　　With his restrained smile, laconic manner and dry humour, Mario Monti, Italy’s prime minister,makes a good sphinx. And that is the role he will have to play until the budget for 2013 isapproved by parliament, probably on December 21st. Only then will he be able to cast aside theneutrality he must maintain as head of a technocratic government and announce whether heplans to stand in the general election now expected in February.

　　克制的微笑，简洁的仪态和冷冷的幽默，意大利总理马里奥·蒙蒂塑造了一张体面的狮身人面像。他必须始终扮演这样一个角色，直到议会在12月21日左右通过2013年的预算，他才能够抛弃作为技术官僚政府首脑必须坚持的中立态度，并宣布是否计划参加预定在2月份举行的大选。

　　The early vote became inevitable on December 8th when Mr Monti told Giorgio Napolitano, thepresident, that he intended to resign. By then, he had lost the support of Silvio Berlusconi’sPeople of Freedom (PdL) movement. The 76-year-old Mr Berlusconi then said he would be hisparty’s candidate for prime minister. He later cast doubt on this, even making a bizarre offerto stand down if Mr Monti wanted to take over his party—a sign perhaps that the former primeminister senses that his candidacy risks becoming an embarrassing catastrophe. It has runinto a barrage of international condemnation and even Mr Berlusconi’s old chums in theNorthern League are hesitating about whether to renew their electoral alliance with the PdL.

　　12月8日，蒙蒂告知意大利总统乔治·纳波利塔诺辞职的打算，提前投票已不可避免。到那时，他失去了西尔维奥·贝卢斯科尼领导的自由人民党(PdL) 的支持。76岁的贝卢斯科尼随后宣布他将担任该政党的总理候选人。之后，他又使事情变得疑云重重，甚至令人匪夷所思地提议如果蒙蒂想要接管他的政党的话，他将会退出——这个迹象表明前总理或许意识到他的候选人资格面临着演变成令人尴尬的灾难的危险。他已经陷入轮番轰炸的国际谴责，甚至贝卢斯科尼北方联盟的密友都在犹豫是否恢复和自由人民党组成的竞选联盟。

　　Mr Berlusconi launched himself into the campaign with an implicit renunciation of the actions ofMr Monti’s government, which his party has until now supported. The billionaire media mogulhas since depicted the government’s policies as unnecessarily painful and imposed on aGermanophile Mr Monti by the government in Berlin. He has scorned concerns over the interestcost on Italy’s vast public debt, which Mr Monti had almost halved before Mr Berlusconi’sreappearance panicked investors. And he held out to voters the prospect that he could undothe reintroduction of an unpopular property tax and reignite growth, something he signallyfailed to do in the eight years between 2001 and 2011 when he held power.

　　贝卢斯科尼投身竞选运动，间接地断绝了和蒙蒂政府的任何行动，而他的政党直到现在依然支持后者。这位拥有亿万资产的媒体大亨目前将政府的政策描述成不必要的疼痛，并通过柏林政府将“亲德派蒙蒂”的称号强加在蒙蒂身上。他一度鄙视对意大利庞大的国债利息成本的担忧，在贝卢斯科尼的再现引起投资者恐慌之前，蒙蒂几乎使其下降了一半。贝卢斯科尼还许诺选民他能通过撤销重新引入的一项不受欢迎的财产税，再次刺激经济增长，而在2001-2011他执政的8年间他显然未能做到这些。

　　Some of Mr Monti’s comments, obliquely countering Mr Berlusconi’s populist contentions,suggest he is itching to defend his government’s record. But those close to him say he isgenuinely undecided about whether to run. The risks are considerable, and not just for MrMonti.

　　蒙蒂的一些拐弯抹角地反对贝卢斯科尼民粹主义论点的言语暗示他渴望保卫他所领导的政府的政绩。但是他的亲信们表示他确实没有决定是否继续执政。风险是巨大的，不仅仅是对蒙蒂而言。