At last the real debate about Britain’s place in Europe is about to crystallise. From the day the UK joined the common market, the conflict between its desire to maintain a club of sovereign nation states and the clear objective of other European countries to forge “ever closer union” has never been resolved. The eurozone crisis has forced that divergence of interests into the open. David Cameron, the prime minister, should seize this moment to establish a new deal for Britain.
關(guān)于英國(guó)在歐洲地位的實(shí)質(zhì)性辯論終于要有結(jié)果。從英國(guó)加入共同市場(chǎng)的那一天開(kāi)始，矛盾就不曾平息過(guò)：一方面，英國(guó)希望維持“主權(quán)國(guó)家俱樂(lè)部”的狀態(tài)，另一方面，歐洲其他國(guó)家卻以打造“更緊密聯(lián)盟”為明確目標(biāo)。歐元區(qū)危機(jī)迫使這種利益分歧走向公開(kāi)化。戴維?卡梅倫(David Cameron)首相應(yīng)當(dāng)抓住這一時(shí)機(jī)，為英國(guó)爭(zhēng)取一份新的協(xié)議。