【经济学人】社论 - 西班牙宪政危机 [英国媒体]

Spain’s constitutional crisis

西班牙宪政危机

Catalonia’s unconstitutional means to an undesirable end  

加泰罗尼亚政府的违宪举动是不得人心的

There are better ways than a referendum to address the region’s legitimate grievances

与公投相比，有更好的方法来维护该地区的合法权益

Sep 23rd 2017  

2017年9月23日



SPAIN has known tumultuous times: civil war in the 1930s, dictatorship until 1975, a failed coup in 1981, a financial and economic crash in 2008-13, and terrorism of the nationalist and jihadist sorts. Now it faces a constitutional crisis that threatens its unity. The Catalan government plans to hold a “binding” referendum on independence on October 1st. If a majority votes yes—regardless of the turnout—then Carles Puigdemont, the Catalan president, will unilaterally declare independence.

西班牙历史上着名的动荡时期有：20世纪30年代的内战；佛朗哥的独裁统治；1981年一场失败的军事政变；2008-2013年的财政危机和经济恐慌；打着民族主义旗号的恐怖分子（埃塔）及圣战分子。今天，一场宪政危机又在威胁着西班牙的统一，加泰罗尼亚政府计划着于10月1日举行一场“强制性的”独立公投，若赞成独立的人数过半，则无论投票出席率如何，加州地区总统卡尔斯·普伊格蒙特将会向多方宣布加州地区的独立

译者注：加泰罗尼亚地区以下简称“加州”

The Spanish constitutional court has declared the vote illegal, and the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy has taken control of the region’s finances to try to block the ballot. The Guardia Civil has raided Catalan government offices and a private delivery firm to seize posters and ballot papers, and arrested at least 12 officials. The Catalan government has called for “peaceful resistance”.

西班牙宪政法院已经宣布公投为非法，西班牙首相马里亚诺·拉霍伊领导下的保守党政府已控制了加州地区的财政大权以试图阻止投票的发生，西班牙国民警卫队已经突击搜查了加州政府办公室及一家私营快递公司，将海报及公投文件没收，并逮捕了12名官员，加州政府对此行为呼吁人们采取“和平抵抗”措施

The crisis is snowballing into a serious threat to Spain’s democracy. Solving it sensitively matters to the rest of Europe. The precedent set in Catalonia will affect other would-be separatists, from Scotland to the Donbas region of Ukraine.

这次公投危机的发酵是对西班牙民主体制的严重威胁，危机的处理方式对欧洲其他类似地区有着机器敏感的影响，发生在加州地区的先例将影响其他地区的独立分子，譬如苏格兰、乌克兰的顿巴斯地区等

Catalonia enjoys a standard of living higher than the average in both Spain and the European Union and more self-government than almost any other region in Europe, including powers to protect the Catalan language. It is, to outward appearances, a lovely and successful place. Yet a majority of Catalans are unhappy with their lot, feeling that Spain takes too much of their money and fails to accord respect to their identity (see article). Mr Rajoy has been wrong to assume that time and economic recovery would cure Catalans’ discontent.

加州地区的生活水平要高于西班牙及整个欧盟的平均水平，也比欧洲其他任何地区享有更多的政府自制权，包括保留加州地区语言的特权等，从表面上看，这应当是个安居乐业之所，然而相当一部分的加州人却对此非常不满，认为西班牙其他地区拖累了加州的经济，却对加州人缺乏尊重。首相拉霍伊曾经以为，岁月流逝以及经济的复苏能够打消加州人的不满，现在看来他是打错算盘了

The Spanish constitution, adopted by referendum in 1978—and backed almost unanimously in Catalonia—proclaims the country’s “indissoluble unity”. It vests sovereignty in the Spanish people as a whole, not in the inhabitants of its constituent parts. The Catalan government claims the right to self-determination. But international law recognises this only in cases of colonialism, foreign invasion or gross discrimination and abuse of human rights. These arguably do apply to the Kurds, who are planning to hold a disputed referendum on secession from Iraq on September 25th (see article).

1978年通过表决的西班牙宪法，几乎全体通过并宣布加州是西班牙“不可分割的一部分”。宪法宣布，加州地区的主权属于西班牙全体人民，而不仅仅是当地的居住者。加州政府称其有自主选择的权利，但国际法认可的适用范围仅限于殖民地、外国入侵或发生对人权的严重歧视及侵犯的情况下，这些都能适用于库尔德人要求于9月25日发起脱离伊拉克的争议性公投

Catalonia, however, hardly counts as colonised, occupied or oppressed. Many Spaniards worry that its secession could swiftly be followed by that of the Basque country. If the rule of law is to mean anything, the constitution should be upheld. Mr Puigdemont should thus step back from his reckless referendum. Opponents are unlikely to turn out, so any yes vote he obtains will be questionable, not just legally but politically. That said, by playing cat-and-mouse with ballot boxes Mr Rajoy has needlessly given Mr Puigdemont a propaganda victory. A big majority of Mr Rajoy’s voters in the rest of Spain support him in part because he refuses to yield to Catalan nationalism. But something important is wrong in Spain, and it is his duty to try to fix it.

然而对加州来说，既不算上殖民地，也不能视为被占领或受压迫。许多西班牙民众都非常担忧，一旦加州独立成功，整个巴斯克地区将会纷纷仿效。若律法的地位高于一切，那么宪政制度就应当被遵从，卡尔斯·普伊格蒙特应当停止其一意孤行的公投要求。因公投的投票率无法得到保证（许多反对独立的人士可能无法出席），此类带有政治目的的公投结果应当被质疑其合法性。西班牙其他地区的选民大部分都支持首相拉霍伊，部分原因是他拒绝向加州地区的民族分子妥协，更重要的原因是西班牙政府犯的错应当由西班牙政府来弥补

Democracy requires consent as well as the rule of law. Constitutional change, especially the right to break away, should be difficult—but not impossible. In Scotland and Quebec, allowing people to have a say did not lead to breakaway. Mr Rajoy should be less defensive: he should now seek to negotiate a new settlement with Catalonia, while also offering to rewrite the constitution to allow referendums on secession, but only with a clear majority on a high turnout.

民主诚可贵，律法不可抛。宪政体制的修改，尤其是要求独立的权利，非常困难—但并非全无可能。在苏格兰和加拿大的魁北克，允许人民发出独立的呼声，但是并没有导致独立的结果，首相拉霍伊应当更积极主动：他可以试图与加州政府重新和解，重新修订宪法，允许在适当时机发起公投，但必须在保证绝大多数票和高投票率的情况下

Damage to Catalonia ---损害加州的利益
Many Catalans want the right to decide, but polls suggest that only around 40% want independence. Most would probably be satisfied with a new deal that gave them clearer powers, let them keep more of their money and symbolically recognised their sense of nationhood. The tragedy is that neither Mr Puigdemont nor Mr Rajoy seems interested in putting such an offer on the table.

许多加州人想获得选择的权利，但民调显示只有约40%的人希望独立，或许更多的人会满足于与政府签署协议获得更多特权，增加他们的财政收入并象征性地允许他们以国家的形式存在。然而悲剧是，无论是加州政府还是西班牙政府，均无意将此事提上日程