Carrots are out, sticks are in. France, Germany and the UK at least agree on one thing: the need to clamp down on bankers' pay. France's president Nicolas Sarkozy wants to cap payments and has signed up French banks to a bonus code, along similar lines to the UK regulator's proposals. Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel wants to control banks' size. British prime minister Gordon Brown, meanwhile, says bonuses should reward only long-term performance. Ahead of this month's G20 summit, it is hard to ignore the ironies.
胡萝卜被丢到了一边，大棒已挥舞起来。法国、德国和英国至少在一件事情上达成了一致：有必要严格限制银行家的薪酬。法国总统尼古拉•萨科齐(Nicolas Sarkozy)想要设定薪酬上限，并已经要求法国各银行签订了奖金准则，这种做法与英国监管机构的提议大致相似。德国总理安格拉•默克尔(Angela Merkel)希望控制银行的规模。英国首相戈登•布朗(Gordon Brown)则表示，奖金只应该是对长期绩效的奖励。在本月的20国集团(G20)峰会即将召开之际，很难对一些具有讽刺意味的事情不理不睬。