UK series 英国系列 8 | Brexit: Why the UK left the EU 英国为何退出欧盟
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On Thursday, UK officially left the EU as Big Ben struck 11pm in London, just as most of mainland Europe ushered in 2021. Prime Minister Boris Johnson described it as an “amazing moment” for the country, “Global Britain” unshackled from rules set in Brussels. He promised that post-Brexit Britain, despite being battered by a surge in coronavirus cases, would be an “open, generous, outward-looking, internationalist and free-trading” country.
周四，大本钟在伦敦敲响11点时，英国正式脱离欧盟，欧洲大陆大部分地区也迎来了2021年。英国首相鲍里斯·约翰逊（Boris Johnson）形容这对英国来说是一个“不可描述的时刻”，“全球英国”摆脱了布鲁塞尔制定的规则的束缚。他承诺，脱欧后的英国尽管受到冠状病毒病例激增的打击，但将成为一个“开放、慷慨、外向、国际主义和支持自由贸易”的国家。
“We have our freedom in our hands and it is up to us to make the most of it.”
“我们的自由掌握在手中，我们应该充分利用它。”
Legally, Britain left the European Union on January 31 last year, but has been in a standstill transition period during fractious talks to secure a free-trade agreement with Brussels, which was finally clinched on Christmas Eve. Now the transition is over, EU rules no longer apply. The question remains, why the UK left EU?
从法律上讲，英国早在去年1月31日脱离欧盟，但在与布鲁塞尔达成自由贸易协定的艰难谈判中，英国一直处于停滞过渡期，最终在平安夜敲定。现在过渡已经结束，欧盟的法律法规在英国不再使用了。问题仍然是，英国为什么脱欧呢？
Table of Contents 目录：
Introduction 简介
Treaty of Paris 巴黎条约
Euratom, EEC and SEA 欧洲原子能共同体、欧洲经济共同体和单一的欧洲法
The Maastricht Treaty 马斯特里赫特条约
The Lisbon Treaty 里斯本条约
The UK Leaves the EU 英国退出欧盟
European countries fought numerous wars amongst themselves throughout history, these wars had great impacts socially, economically, and politically. In the end of the WW2, some countries realized that it was important to integrate European countries. But due to the complexity of the process, it could not be achieved in one go, gradual integration was important to ensure and protect the demands of its members.
欧洲国家在历史上曾多次发生战争，这些战争在社会、经济和政治上都产生了巨大的影响。在第二次世界大战结束时，一些国家意识到融入欧洲国家的重要性。但由于这一过程的复杂性，不可能一蹴而就，逐步融合对于保障和保护其成员的需求至关重要。
The Treaty of Paris was the first of its kind to be signed by six countries allowing to form an area of free trade for several key resources. This established the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) on July 23, 1952, and it was made up of Germany, Belgium, France, Holland, Italy and Luxembourg. The final goal of these integrations was to create a federal Europe. Supranational bodies such as a council of ministers, a common assembly, a court of justice etc. were created to manage the ECSC.
《巴黎条约》是六个国家签署的第一个此类条约，允许为若干关键资源建立一个自由贸易区。1952年7月23日，由德国、比利时、法国、荷兰、意大利和卢森堡组成的欧洲煤炭和钢铁共同体成立。这些跨国整合集团的最终目标是建立一个欧洲联邦。成立了部长理事会、共同大会、法院等超国家机构来管理欧洲煤炭和钢铁共同体(ECSC)。
The Treaty of Paris was proposed by France, while Germany and Italy saw opportunities to rebuild themselves from the favorable conditions that came with the treaty. The UK, however, stayed out because it didn’t want to give up its power and it was already benefitting a lot from the Commonwealth.
巴黎条约是法国提出的，而德国和意大利则看到了从条约带来的有利条件中重建自己的机会。然而，英国之所以置身事外，是因为它不想放弃自己的权力，而且已经从英联邦获益良多。
In 1957, two treaties known as the treaty of Rome were signed and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the European Economic Community (EEC) were created. Euratom was for pooling the knowledge of atomic energy, and the EEC was a common market among the members with no tariffs or impediments to the flow of labor and goods.
European Parliament members to vote on legislations and issues.
1957年，签署了两项被称为《罗马条约》的条约，成立了欧洲原子能共同体（Euratom）和欧洲经济共同体（EEC）。欧洲原子能组织是为了汇集原子能的知识，欧洲经济共同体是成员国之间的一个共同市场，保证没有关税或劳动力和货物流动的障碍。
In 1965, the Brussels Treaty merged EEC, ECSC, and Euratom to create a joint, permanent civil service. Over the 1970s and eighties, membership grew, Denmark, Ireland, and the UK joined in 1973, Greece in nineteen eighty-one, and Portugal and Spain in nineteen eighty-six. A year later, EEC was evolved into the Single European Act (SEA), this allowed 1965年，《布鲁塞尔条约》合并了欧洲经济共同体、欧洲共同体和欧洲原子能共同体，建立了一个联合的、永久性的公务员制度。在20世纪70年代和80年代，成员不断增加，丹麦、爱尔兰和英国于1973年加入，希腊于1981年加入，葡萄牙和西班牙于1986年加入。1987年，欧洲经济共同体演变为单一的欧洲法（SEA），这使得欧洲议会成员在立法和问题进行投票。
The Maastricht Treaty 马斯特里赫特条约
On February 7, 1992, the Treaty on European Union, known as the Maastricht Treaty, was signed. On November 1, 1993, EEC was officially renamed European Union, EU set guidelines for creation of a single currency, Euro, which was introduced on January 1, 1999. With people, goods, services, and capital moving freely between member countries, the EU achieved something like the way states in the US work.
1992年2月7日，被称为《马斯特里赫特条约》的《欧洲联盟条约》签署。1993年11月1日，欧共体正式更名为欧盟，1999年1月1日，欧盟制定了单一货币欧元的创建指南。随着成员国之间人员、货物、服务和资本的自由流动，欧盟取得了与美国类似州和州之间关系的成就。
But this didn’t mean that the members agreed to all the conditions, they rather reached a compromise, for example, poorer member nations wanted more money from the union, while richer ones wanted to pay less. Another side effect was related to free movement within EU’s borders which lead to mass migrations from poorer EU member nations to richer ones. Worries over international crime, as criminals had formed effective cross border organizations, were also growing.
但这并不意味着成员国同意所有条件，而是达成妥协，例如，较贫穷的成员国希望从欧盟获得更多的资金，而较富裕的成员国则希望支付更少的资金。另一个副作用与欧盟境内的自由流动有关，这导致了欧盟较贫穷成员国向较富裕成员国的大规模移民。随着犯罪分子组建了有效的跨境组织，对国际犯罪的担忧也不断的增加。
The Lisbon Treaty 里斯本条约
The draft signed in 2004 was aimed to install a permanent EU president and a foreign minister but was rejected in 2005. It was amended as the Lisbon Treaty, it was signed in 2009 and Herman Van Rompuy became the first president of the European Council. In the two thousand and eight financial crisis, the European Central Bank failed to respond effectively, leading to a recession that was much more severe than it needed to be. Unemployment rose, and tax revenue fell.
2004年签署的草案旨在任命一名欧盟常任主席和一名外交部长，但在2005年被否决。它被修订为里斯本条约，2009年签署，赫尔曼范龙佩成为欧洲理事会第一任主席。在2008年的金融危机中，欧洲央行（ECB）未能有效应对，导致了一场比所需严重得多的金融危机。失业率上升，税收下降。
The crisis and the way the EU handled it created second thoughts and increased worry among wealthy countries like the UK. The European Union made it much easier for citizens of one country to migrate to another, so countries like the UK were flooded by foreign born population as soon as it joined the EU.
这场危机以及欧盟处理危机的方式，在英国等富裕国家中引发了新的思考并增加了担忧。欧盟使一个国家的公民更容易移民到另一个国家，所以像英国这样的国家一加入欧盟就被外国出生的人口所淹没。
The UK Leaves the EU 英国退出欧盟
The UK has been hesitant of deeper integration with the rest of Europe, the financial crisis didn’t help much with this. Furthermore, the UK did not fully accept the EU control over its institutions in a way that other members did. For example, the UK did not join the Schengen Area, or the common currency. Boris Johnson, a conservative who was then mayor of London, wrote a typical case for Brexit, focusing on the increasing concentration of power in the hands of unelected EU bureaucrats in Brussels. He pointed out the EU was too meddlesome, undemocratic and unaccountable to the public.
英国一直在犹豫是否与欧洲其他国家进一步融合，金融危机对这一点没有太大帮助。此外，英国没有像其他成员国那样完全接受欧盟对其机构的控制。例如，英国没有加入申根地区，也没有加入共同货币。时任伦敦市长的保守党人鲍里斯约翰逊（Boris Johnson）为英国脱欧写过一个典型案例，重点是权力越来越集中在布鲁塞尔未经选举产生的欧盟官僚手中。他指出，欧盟太多管闲事，不民主，对公众不负责任。
On June 23, 2016, the UK citizens voted to leave the EU, and the event has been dubbed “Brexit.” David Cameron who led the remain campaign resigned as prime minister of the UK and Theresa May won the Conservative Party leadership contest, becoming prime minister of the UK. In March 2017 the government set a two-year countdown to when the UK will officially leave the EU. On July 23, Boris Johnson won the Tory leadership contest and became the UK’s new prime minister the following day.
2016年6月23日，英国公民投票决定脱离欧盟，这一活动被称为“Brexit”，领导留欧运动的卡梅伦辞去英国首相职务，特雷莎·梅赢得保守党领袖竞选，成为英国首相。2017年3月，英国政府设定了英国正式脱离欧盟的两年倒计时。7月23日，鲍里斯·约翰逊赢得了保守党领袖竞选，并在第二天成为英国新首相。
On January 31, 2019, the UK officially left the EU at midnight (11 PM UK time) and an 11-month transition phase began, which ran to December 31, 2020. To date, the UK is the first and only country formally to leave the EU, after 47 years of membership within the bloc.
1月31日，英国在午夜（英国时间晚上11点）正式脱离欧盟，开始为期11个月的过渡阶段，一直持续到2020年12月31日。迄今为止，英国是第一个也是唯一一个正式脱离欧盟的国家，直到脱离的时候，该国已加入了欧盟47年。
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