VOA慢速英语2017 英国脱欧谈判在贸易和边境问题上进展缓慢

Talks on Brexit Slowed Over Trade, Border Issues

British and EU officials say they are “deadlocked 1” after four days of negotiations 3 on Britain’s exit from Europe, known as “Brexit.”

英国和欧盟官员表示，英国脱欧经过四天的谈判之后陷入了僵局。

The two sides appear to disagree on which parts of Brexit should be negotiated first.

双方似乎对脱欧谈判首先应该谈什么有不同意见。

EU officials unclear on the British negotiating position

欧盟官员不清楚英国的谈判立场

EU officials say British negotiators are not clear about what they want. But, the British side says negotiating a trade deal should come before talks on terms for leaving the EU.

欧盟官员表示，英国谈判代表不清楚自己想要什么。但是英方表示，在讨论脱欧条款之前应该先谈判贸易协议。

Another point of disagreement is the amount of money Britain will have to pay the EU when it leaves. Some estimates place the amount at $89 billion.

另一项不同意见是英国退出时需要向欧盟支付的“分手费。”有人估计该数字为890亿美元。

The EU is seeking the money for budget payments and to pay for projects and loans that were agreed to in 2013. That is before the referendum on June 23 of 2016 when Britons voted to leave the EU.

欧盟谋求获得预算支出的资金，以及2013年商定的项目和贷款所支出的资金。这些都发生在2016年6月23日英国公投脱欧之前。

Michel Barnier is the chief EU negotiator for Brexit. He told reporters, “To be flexible you need two points, our point and their point. We need to know their position and then I can be flexible.”

米歇尔·巴尼耶（Michel Barnier）是欧盟负责英国脱欧谈判的首席谈判代表。他对记者表示：“要灵活变通，你需要了解双方的观点，也就是我们的观点和对方的观点。我们需要了解他们的立场，然后才能灵活变通。”

The European parliament’s coordinator 4, Guy Verhofstadt said, “the other party is not responding.” Because of this, he said, it “is difficult to start a negotiation 2.”

欧盟议会协调员居伊·伏思达（Guy Verhofstadt）表示：“对方没有回应。”他说，正因为如此，“我们很难开启谈判。”

Verhofstadt also released a video of himself talking about the difficulties of the negotiations on the social media network Twitter.

伏思达还在社交媒体网站推特网上发布了一则视频，他在视频中谈到了谈判的各项困难。

He tweeted, “I fear that some of the #Brexit hardliners don’t want to negotiate.”

他发推说：“我担心一些脱欧强硬派不想谈判。”

Brexit and trade talks, which comes first?

脱欧和贸易谈判，先谈哪个？

The EU wants the two sides to make progress on an agreement for Britain to leave the group by October. The EU does not want trade talks to begin until this step is reached.

欧盟希望双方在10月前就英国脱欧协议取得进展。欧盟不想在实现这一步骤之前就开始贸易谈判。

Experts say that the British side does not want to settle on a Brexit payment until they have secured a good free trade deal. The EU, however, has described the Brexit payment and future trade agreement as two separate issues.

专家表示，英方不想在达成一项良好的自由贸易协议之前决定脱欧的赔款。然而欧盟已经将脱欧赔款和未来贸易协定视为两项独立议题。

British Prime Minister Theresa May said, “I think a good trade deal is not just about the UK, it is about what is good for businesses in what will be the 27 remaining states of the EU as well.”

英国首相特蕾莎·梅（Theresa May）表示：“我认为一项良好的贸易协定不只是英国的事，它也关乎未来剩余的27个欧盟成员国境内企业的利益。”

May admitted that Britain would have to pay money to the EU on leaving the group. But trade remained the main issue, “I think it is in all our interest to move on to those trade talks and to get a good idea.”

梅首相承认，英国必须向欧盟支付“分手费。”但是贸易仍然是主要议题。她说：“我认为继续推进贸易谈判并取得好的结果，这符合我们大家的利益。”

Questions about border

边境问题

Border policies are another issue that has slowed talks.

边境政策是延缓谈判的另一项议题。

The two sides have made little progress on how Europeans will be treated under British law and other border issues. The sides must agree on the rights of more than two million European citizens and their families who are living and working in Britain. And an estimated 1.3 million Britons live in EU countries.

双方在欧洲人根据英国法律享受的待遇以及其它边境问题上取得的进展不大。双方必须就超过200万在英国生活和工作的欧洲公民及其家属的权利达成一致。另外估计有130万英国人生活在欧盟国家。

In addition, Britain must work out border issues with the Republic of Ireland, an EU member. Ireland and Northern Ireland oppose harsh border policies fearing a renewal 5 of the Irish conflict. Ireland also has threatened to veto trade negotiations until officials are satisfied with the border agreement.

此外，英国必须与欧盟成员国爱尔兰解决边境问题。爱尔兰和北爱尔兰反对严厉的边境政策，担心爱尔兰冲突再起。爱尔兰也威胁要否决贸易谈判，直到有关官员对边境协议满意为止。

Disagreement within Britain

英国内部分歧

Some former British officials have criticized the British governments negotiating strategy. They say it shows sharp disagreements between members of May’s cabinet and Conservative Party parliament ministers.

英国一些前官员对英国政府的谈判策略提出了批评。他们说，这凸显了梅首相的内阁成员和保守党议会大臣们之间的分歧。

They disagree on whether Britain should remain a member of the EU single market and customs union. Such a move would make trade easier, but Britain would have no control over trade rules set by the EU after it leaves the group.

他们对英国是否应该继续作为欧盟单一市场和关税同盟的成员国持有不同意见。这类举措会让贸易更容易，但是在脱欧之后英国将会无法控制欧盟制定的贸易规则。

Finance minister Phil Hammond has the support of many top business leaders. He is trying to influence the Conservative Party away from a sharp break with Europe and its rules—what is being called a “hard Brexit.”

英国财长菲尔·哈蒙德（Phil Hammond）获得了很多顶级商界领袖的支持。他试图影响保守党不要同欧洲急剧决裂，也就是所谓的“硬脱欧。”

The public is growing more concerned about Brexit according to opinion studies because of increasingly bad economic news.

根据民意调查结果，由于经济方面的不利消息不断，公众越来越关注脱欧。

There also are concerns that Britain will lose many of the EU citizens who live and work in the country. The professional services company KPMG said in a study that about one million EU citizens, many who are highly educated, are planning to leave the country because of Brexit.

还有人担心英国会失去众多在该国生活和工作的欧盟公民。专业服务公司毕马威在一项研究中表示，因为英国脱欧，约有1百万欧盟公民计划离开该国，其中多数受过高等教育。

I’m Mario Ritter.

Words in This Story

deadlocked –adj. unable to move forward,

flexible –adj. willing to change or do things differently

customs –n. the system of taxes and costs that a government seeks when goods come into the country from another country