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.
欧盟(EU)诞生于灾难之中，并在一个又一个危机中发展壮大。如今，它在许多方面面临着威胁。如果欧盟未能成功应对这些挑战，它甚至有可能会解体。幸运的是，安格拉•默克尔(Angela Merkel)明白这一点。德国总理仍是这个不可或缺的欧洲国家深受信任的领导人。与法国总统埃马纽埃尔•马克龙(Emmanuel Macron)达成一项激进的新金融计划意味着，她改变了欧盟的可能性。这是又一个“不惜一切代价”的时刻，这一次的主角是欧洲的头面政治人物，这确认了德国和法国只有在选民抛弃了精英——就像美国人和英国人所做的那样——之后，才会任由欧盟失败。但历史给这两个国家的人民留下了太深的印记，以至于他们无法冒险选择类似的幼稚政治。