今年10月一个寒冷的晚上，默克尔（Angela Merkel）在她简朴的总理官邸给罗马打了一个保密电话，为的是拯救欧元。那时距爆发于希腊的欧洲债务危机已过去两年，不可思议的事情发生了：投资者纷纷抛售意大利政府债券，而意大利是全球最大的经济体之一。如果抛售无法制止，意大利会倒下，被拖下水的还有欧元。默克尔那晚致电的是意大利总统纳波利塔诺（Giorgio Napolitano）。欧洲领导人有一个不成文的规定，即互不干预彼此内政。但默克尔轻轻地提醒了一下意大利，如果现任总理贝卢斯科尼（Silvio Berlusconi）不能改变意大利，那么是时候考虑更换总理了。

On a chilly October evening in her austere chancellery, Angela Merkel placed a confidential call to Rome to help save the euro.Two years after the European debt crisis erupted in little Greece, the unthinkable had happened: Investors were fleeing the government debt of Italy -- one of the world's biggest economies. If the selloff couldn't be stopped, Italy would go down, taking with it Europe's shared currency.Her phone call that night President Giorgio Napolitano. Europe's leaders have an unwritten rule not to intervene in one another's domestic politics. But Merkel was gently prodding Italy to change its prime minister, if the incumbent -- Silvio Berlusconi -- couldn't change Italy.

有关默克尔通过何种外交渠道同罗马取得联系的细节以前并未报道过。相关阅读除了将贝卢斯科尼赶下政治舞台，默克尔还得理顺她与法国总统萨科齐（Nicolas Sarkozy）之间并不稳定的关系。这一对“德法联盟”最终克服了双方之间的很多分歧，也解决了贝卢斯科尼这一问题，但却没有料到希腊公投的政治乱局。欧洲债务危机的根源在于市场对政府债以及欧元区内部经济失衡现象深感担忧。这种担忧吓得债券投资者远离欧洲财政弱国，也令希腊等国缺乏再融资及偿还债务的资金。非常危险的是，意大利可能成为其中一员北京翻译公司。

Details of Merkel's diplomatic channel to Rome haven't previously been reported.Her impatience shows the extent to which Italy's woes undid Europe's strategy to fight the crisis. Until then, Europe had followed a simple formula to preserve the euro: The financially strong would save the weak. But Italy, with nearly EUR2 trillion, or about $2.6 trillion, in national debt, was simply too big to save.This Wall Street Journal reconstruction, based on interviews with more than two dozen policy makers, including many leading actors, as well as examinations of key documents, reveals how Germany responded to the dangers in Italy by imposing its power on a divided euro zone. Merkel, widely criticized for not dealing forcefully with the crisis in its early phase, was at the center of the action, grappling with personal tensions and Byzantine politics among the 17 euro nations.

国际救助资金足以为希腊和其它小国纾困。但意大利出现债务违约现象可能严重伤害欧洲和全球金融体系，并可能引发全球经济衰退，其程度可能甚于2008年雷曼兄弟（Lehman Brothers）倒闭所造成的后果。Reuters今年11月，意大利前总理贝卢斯科尼与德国总理默克尔。提振投资者对意大利信心的种种努力也令如何支付构建金融安全网所需资金一事的讨论逐渐发酵。欧洲领导人不情愿地认识到，为了维系欧元这种统一货币，他们必须放弃的国家独立自主权远比他们此前协商的要多深圳翻译公司。

As well as nudging Berlusconi off the stage, Merkel had to smooth out her volatile relationship with France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy. The Franco-German couple eventually overcame many of their differences -- and Berlusconi -- only to be blindsided by fresh political chaos in Greece.Europe's crisis is rooted in deep worries about government debt and economic imbalances inside the euro zone. Those concerns have scared bond investors away from Europe's weaker states, leaving some, like Greece, without access to money with which to refinance or repay their debts. The great danger is that Italy might join them.