欧洲或因债务危机失去年轻一代

Europe has spent hundreds of billions of euros rescuing its banks but may have lost an entire generation of young people in the process, the president of the European Parliament said.

Since the region's debt crisis erupted in Greece in late 2009, the European Union has created complex rescue mechanisms to prop up distressed countries and their shaky banking sectors, setting aside a total of 700 billion euros.

But little has been done to tackle the devastating social impact of the crisis, with more than 26 million people unemployed across the EU, including one in every two young people in Greece, Spain and parts of Italy and Portugal.

That crippling level of unemployment has led to protests and outbreaks of violence across southern Europe, raising the threat of full-scale social breakdown, including rising crime and anti-immigrant attacks that can further rattle unstable governments.

"We saved the banks but are running the risk of losing a generation," said Martin Schulz, a German socialist who has led the European Parliament, the EU's only directly elected institution, since January last year.

"One of the biggest threats to the European Union is that people entirely lose their confidence in the capacity of the EU to solve their problems. And if the younger generation is losing trust, then in my eyes the European Union is in real danger," he told the reporters in an interview.

Figures released last week showed 57 percent of Greeks aged 15 to 24 are out of work, and a similar scourge is tearing apart the fabric of Spain, where some university graduates in their 30s have never had a job.

European Union heads of state and government will discuss the fallout from the debt crisis at a summit on March 14-15.

"If we have 700 billion euros to stabilize the banking system, we must have at least as much money to stabilize the young generation in such countries," he said.

欧洲议会议长最近表示，尽管欧洲已经花费了几千亿欧元来援救其银行业，但可能在这一过程中失去了整整一代年轻人。

自欧洲债务危机于2009年末在希腊爆发以来，欧盟创设了一套复杂的援救机制来支撑受困国家及其摇摇欲坠的银行业，该机制的认缴资本总额高达7000亿欧元。

但在应对债务危机所带来的严重社会影响上，欧盟几乎毫无作为。整个欧盟有超过2600万人失业，在希腊、西班牙、意大利以及葡萄牙的部分地区，年轻人失业率高达50%。

失业率高企导致南欧国家频频爆发抗议和暴力活动，社会全面崩溃的危险上升，包括犯罪率以及反移民攻击行为增加，这些也进一步对本已不稳定的政府构成威胁。

马丁•舒尔茨说：“我们挽救了银行业，但可能会失去一代人。”社会党人马丁·舒尔茨去年1月正式就任欧洲议会议长，欧洲议会是欧盟唯一一个直接选举产生的机构。

他在一次采访中告诉记者：“欧盟所面临的最大威胁之一，是人们对欧盟解决问题的能力完全丧失了信心。如果年轻的一代失去了信任，那么在我看来，欧盟正处于真正的危险之中，”

上周公布的数据显示，在希腊15至24岁的年轻人中失业率高达57%。而同样的灾难也在撕裂西班牙的社会体系，该国一些30多岁的大学毕业生还从未找到过工作。

3月14日至15日召开的峰会上，欧盟各国元首将就欧债危机的后果进行讨论。

舒尔茨说：“如果我们拿出7000亿欧元的资金来稳定银行业，那么我们必须至少拿出同样多的钱来稳定这些国家的年轻一代。”