Last weekend, when the Spanish prime minister called some other European states “selfish”, even allies must have winced. This is not because Pedro Sánchez was without a case. Governments were proposing to (literally) isolate Spain after a surge of migrants into Ceuta. Some had got their facts wrong. It is just that many see him as a stickler for the national interest himself. He has rejected Nato’s ambition to spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence, as Russia would not be “bringing its troops across the Pyrenees”. Nations on the other side of those mountains found that line wanting in solidarity.
上周末，当西班牙首相形容其他一些欧洲国家“自私”时，就连盟友也会感到不自在。这并不是因为佩德罗•桑切斯(Pedro Sánchez)的话毫无道理。在大量移民涌入休达（Ceuta，西班牙在非洲的一块飞地）后，一些欧洲国家的政府提议隔离西班牙。有些国家甚至连事实都没搞清楚。只是很多人认为，桑切斯本人也是一个很看重国家利益的人。他拒绝看齐北约(NATO)将国防支出提高到国内生产总值(GDP) 5%的雄心，理由是俄罗斯军队不会“越过比利牛斯山”。位于这座山脉另一侧的国家认为这话缺乏团结精神。
Northern and southern Europe inhabit increasingly different mental worlds. The consuming focus of the north is Russia. Unless Vladimir Putin mellows in the autumn of his life, this will not change soon. The south, which has less exposure to that problem, can cite other priorities. One is climate change, which discriminates according to latitude. Sánchez once suggested that Spain’s efforts against it should count as defence expenditure. This summer’s wildfires make it harder to dismiss him as a sophist.
欧洲北部和南部在思维观念上正变得日益迥异。北方国家全神贯注地紧盯着俄罗斯的一举一动。除非弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)在人生的暮年变得温和，否则这种态势不会很快改变。南方国家受这个问题的直接影响较小，对他们而言还有其他更重要的事情。其中之一是气候变化，其影响随着纬度的不同而存在差异。桑切斯曾提出，西班牙应对气候变化的努力应该被计为国防支出。今夏肆虐的野火让人更难指责他在诡辩。
The feud between Sánchez and the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, over Ceuta masks how similar the two countries are on defence. Earlier this year, she ruled out sending Italian troops to secure a post-conflict Ukraine. (And she is a Russia hawk by the standards of her country’s right wing.) Like Spain, Italy has only just met Nato’s longstanding 2 per cent target. In a recent poll, Italians were the only surveyed nation that opposed an increase in national defence spending.
桑切斯与意大利总理焦尔吉娅•梅洛尼(Giorgia Meloni)在休达事件上的争执，掩盖了两国在国防方面的相似立场。今年早些时候，梅洛尼排除了派遣意大利军队去保障战后乌克兰安全的可能性。（按照意大利右翼的标准，她算是一个对俄鹰派。）与西班牙一样，意大利也只是刚刚达到北约长期设定的国防支出目标（GDP的2%）。最近的一项民调显示，在所有受调查国家中，只有意大利人反对本国增加国防支出。