默克爾：自由和民主的衛(wèi)士

For German chancellor Angela Merkel, 2016 was another dramatic year that put her centre stage in global affairs and left her facing calls to take over outgoing US President Barack Obama’s mantle as the leader of the western world.

對于德國總理安格拉•默克爾(Angela Merkel)而言，2016年又是驚心動魄的一年，她被推上了全球事務的中央舞臺，同時呼聲四起，要求她接過即將離任的美國總統(tǒng)巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)的擔子，成為西方世界的領袖。

While Ms Merkel dismissed such demands as “absurd”, she has recognised that the populist Donald Trump’s election to the White House has added to her huge responsibilities. Any thought that, after three terms in power, she might retire at 62 has been swept away: she has decided to stand again in next year’s parliamentary elections.

默克爾并不響應這種呼聲，斥之為“荒唐”，但她已經(jīng)意識到，民粹主義者唐納德•特朗普(Donald Trump)當選美國總統(tǒng)后，她肩上的擔子更重了。人們原本以為，在當了三任總理后，她可能在62歲退休。如今這種想法已經(jīng)煙消云散，因為她已決定明年再次參加議會選舉。

And she has made clear that she has far more than Germany on her mind — pledging to carry on the fight for liberal democracy, free trade and open societies even as rightwing populists are heading in a different direction. This promise alone was enough to make Ms Merkel the FT’s Person of the Year for 2015, a leading contender for this year and will almost certainly put her in the running for 2017.

而且她明確表示，她心中所著想的絕不止是德國——她承諾繼續(xù)為自由民主、自由貿易和開放社會而戰(zhàn)，即便右翼民粹主義者正沖著不同的方向去了。這一承諾就足以讓默克爾成為了英國《金融時報》2015年年度人物、2016年這一稱號的有力爭奪者，也幾乎肯定會讓她在2017年入圍。

For much of 2016, she has tried to win back support from voters sceptical about her mid-2015 decision to keep open the country’s borders for refugees. While insisting that she was right at the time, she has since tightened asylum rules and supported a controversial EU-Turkey migration deal.

2015年中期她決定向難民開放德國邊境招致了部分選民的懷疑，在2016年的大部分時間里她一直試圖重新贏回這部分選民的支持。盡管她堅持認為自己當初的決定是正確的，但她后來已經(jīng)收緊了難民政策并且支持歐盟與土耳其達成的一項有爭議的移民協(xié)議。

The country remains divided, with the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party capitalising on anti-Merkel sentiment. But, battered and bruised though she is, she remains favourite to win next year’s poll, even with reduced support.

國家仍然存在裂痕，反移民的德國新選擇黨(Alternative for Germany)大加利用國內反默克爾的情緒。不過，盡管飽受抨擊、創(chuàng)傷累累，默克爾仍然大有希望贏得明年的選舉，即便支持率可能會下滑。

The writer is the FT’s Berlin correspondent

本文作者為英國《金融時報》駐柏林記者