How to minimise the damage ofBritain’s senseless, self-inflicted blow

如何将英国这一无意义的自我打击造成的伤害最小化

HOW quickly the unthinkable became the irreversible. A year agofew people imagined that the legions of Britons who love to whinge about theEuropean Union—silly regulations, bloated budgets and pompous¹ bureaucrats—wouldactually vote to leave the club of countries that buy nearly half of Britain’sexports. Yet, by the early hours of June 24th, it was clear that votershad ignored the warnings of economists², allies and their own government and,after more than four decades in the EU, were about to step boldly into the unknown.

从难以想象到覆水难收，事情的发展是多么地迅速。一年前几乎没有人能想到，大量喜欢抱怨欧盟规章制度愚蠢、预算庞大、充斥浮华官僚主义等种种问题的英国人，竟然真的会投票退出这个占英国出口近一半的国家俱乐部。然而，在6月24日凌晨，选民们显然已经忽略了来自经济学家、盟国以及本国政府的警告，在加入欧盟四十余年后，即将大胆地踏入未知。

We believe that he or she should opt³ for a Norwegian-style dealthat gives full access to the world’s biggest single market, but maintains theprinciple of the free movement of people. The reason is that this wouldmaximise prosperity. And the supposed cost—migration⁴—is actually beneficial, asLeave campaigners themselves have said. European migrants are net contributorsto public finances, so they more than pay their way for their use of health andeducation services. Without migrants from the EU, schools, hospitals andindustries such as farming and the building trade would be short of labour.

我们相信他或她应该选择一个挪威式的交易，这将给予英国进入世界最大单一市场的完全自由，但同时维持人口自由流动的规定。原因是这样做将会使繁荣最大化。而且所谓的成本——人口迁移——实际上是有好处的，那些退欧领导者自己也这样说。欧州人移民对公共财政是净贡献者，如果没有来自欧盟的移民，那么学校、医院和农业、建筑业这类行业就将出现劳工短缺。

Preventing Frexit

防止法国退欧

The hard task will be telling Britons who voted to Leave that the free havingand eating of cake is not an option. The new prime minister will faceaccusations of selling out—for the simple reason that he or she will indeedhave to break a promise, whether over migration or the economy. That is whyvoters must confirm any deal, preferably in a general election rather thananother referendum. This may be easier to win than seems possible today. Whilea deal is being done, the economy will suffer and immigration will fall of itsown accord.

支持退欧的英国人将会面临的艰巨任务是天上掉馅饼并不现实。新首相将会面临违反诺言的指控——原因很简单，他或她必将违背一个承诺，无论是在移民或是经济方面，难以两全。这就是为什么选民们必须确认所有交易，最好是在大选而不是其他全民公投。这个交易获得成功可能比今天的公投还容易。当交易完成时，经济将会遭到冲击，移民也将自行减少。