The EU was born out of catastrophe and has advanced through crisis. Today, it confronts threats on many fronts. If it fails to rise to these challenges, it might even shatter. Fortunately, Angela Merkel understands this. The German chancellor remains the trusted leader of the indispensable European country. By agreeing a radical new financial plan with French President Emmanuel Macron, she has transformed the EU’s possibilities. It is another “whatever it takes” moment, this time from Europe’s leading politicians, confirming that Germany and France will only let the EU fail if their electorates discard their elites, as the Americans and British have done. But history has marked the peoples of these two countries too deeply for them to risk similarly infantile politics.
歐盟(EU)誕生于災難之中，并在一個又一個危機中發展壯大。如今，它在許多方面面臨著威脅。如果歐盟未能成功應對這些挑戰，它甚至有可能會解體。幸運的是，安格拉?默克爾(Angela Merkel)明白這一點。德國總理仍是這個不可或缺的歐洲國家深受信任的領導人。與法國總統埃馬紐埃爾?馬克龍(Emmanuel Macron)達成一項激進的新金融計劃意味著，她改變了歐盟的可能性。這是又一個“不惜一切代價”的時刻，這一次的主角是歐洲的頭面政治人物，這確認了德國和法國只有在選民拋棄了精英——就像美國人和英國人所做的那樣——之后，才會任由歐盟失敗。但歷史給這兩個國家的人民留下了太深的印記，以至于他們無法冒險選擇類似的幼稚政治。