法国财长：法国不是欧洲病人

France’s Socialist government seized on better than expected economic growth figures to reject concern that France could become the next focus of the eurozone crisis, insisting it was acting to reform the flagging economy.

法国社会党政府抓住好于预期的经济增长数据，回击有关该国将成为下一个欧元区危机焦点的担忧，坚称其正在采取行动改革疲弱的经济。

“France is not the sick man of Europe. France remains the world’s fifth largest economic power that has all its resources but which needs to recover its competitiveness, Pierre Moscovici, the finance minister, told the Financial Times.

法国财长皮埃尔·莫斯科维奇(Pierre Moscovici)对英国《金融时报》表示：“法国不是欧洲病人。法国仍是全球第五大经济体，拥有自己的资源，但需要恢复竞争力。

Forecasts of weak French economic performance from the EU and the International Monetary Fund have fuelled fears that the country could exacerbate the eurozone recession if President Fran ois Hollande’s government of six months does not enact structural reforms similar to those under way in Italy and Spain.

欧盟以及国际货币基金组织(International Monetary Fund)有关法国经济表现疲软的预测，加剧了市场的担忧情绪——即如果已上任六个月的总统弗朗索瓦·奥朗德(Fran ois Hollande)政府不能出台与意大利以及西班牙类似的结构性改革方案，法国可能加剧欧元区经济衰退。

Germany has barely hidden its suspicion that Mr Hollande is not doing enough to address its competitiveness problems and concerns are mounting among European policy makers that the financial markets could turn against France.

对于奥朗德是否正采取足够行动解决法国的竞争力问题，德国方面几乎公开表示怀疑，同时欧洲各国政策制定者越来越担心，金融市场可能把矛头对准法国。

The French government was lifted yesterday by official data showing its economy had eked out growth of 0.2 per cent in the third quarter, against expectations of flat or negative growth.

昨日公布的官方数据令法国政府感到振奋。第三季度法国经济增长率勉强达到0.2%，而市场预期则为持平或负增长。

But gross domestic product in the eurozone as a whole fell back into recession for the first time in three years, shrinking 0.1 per cent in June to September as Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria and the Netherlands contracted sharply, according to the EU’s statistics office. Prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault visited Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin yesterday to rebut German government worries. “Our goal is to return to growth,’’ Mr Ayrault said. “France has its own history and my challenge is to reform what is not working and correct what is weak, while retaining our core values.

但来自欧盟统计局的数据显示，第三季度欧元区整体经济三年来首次重新陷入衰退，GDP增速仅为-0.1%，希腊、意大利、西班牙、葡萄牙、奥地利以及荷兰经济显著收缩。法国总理让-马克·埃罗(Jean-Marc Ayrault)昨日在柏林会晤德国总理安格拉·默克尔(Angela Merkel)，以求打消德国政府顾虑。埃罗指出：“法国的目标是实现经济重新增长。法国有自己的历史，而我所面临的挑战就是改革和纠正不管用或者薄弱的地方，同时保持我们的核心价值。

Ms Merkel said: “I wholeheartedly wish success to what is being set in motion in France now.

默克尔表示：“我衷心祝愿法国目前正在进行的改革能够取得成功。

In an interview, Mr Moscovici said: “No, we are not implementing the same reforms as Italy and Spain because we are not Italy or Spain. We don’t have the same weaknesses. So we will implement reforms ‘à la Fran?aise’. They will be more ambitious than any [French government] before us.

莫斯科维奇在一个访谈中表示：“我们所进行的改革与意大利和西班牙不同，因为法国不是意大利或西班牙，各国的弱点不同。我们将实施‘法国特色’的改革，其力度在法国历届政府中是前所未有的。