弗里德里希·梅尔茨表示，欧洲有能力发挥自身力量，克服经济困境，并重申了其加大人工智能等领域投资、改革德国社会福利体系的计划。
Friedrich Merz said Europe had the ability to harness its strength and overcome economic malaise as he reinforced his plan to boost investment in areas such as artificial intelligence and overhaul Germany’s social welfare system.
这位德国领导人近几周遭遇多次政治挫折，他表示，欧盟必须自我确立，利用其4.5亿消费者的影响力，在科技竞赛中追上全球竞争对手。
The German leader, who has suffered multiple political setbacks in recent weeks, said it was crucial for the European Union to assert itself and wield the leverage of its 450 million consumers to catch up with global rivals ahead in the technology race.
“我们有东西可以提供——而且我们同时也足够自信地说，是的，我们可以追上，并且我们会做到，”梅尔茨周一在柏林接受彭博电视台采访时表示。
“We have something to offer — and we are in the meantime self-conscious enough to say, yes, we can catch up and we will do that,” Merz told Bloomberg Television in Berlin on Monday.
梅尔茨发表上述讲话之际，法国及其他欧盟成员国正遭受生活成本抗议活动的冲击，这些抗议活动周末演变为暴力事件。这位德国领导人将骚乱归因于移民和政治极化，并表示，对高物价和不确定未来的焦虑是欧洲极端势力的催化剂。
Merz spoke as France and other EU member states were swept by cost-of-living protests that descended into violence over the weekend. The German leader, who attributed the unrest to migration and political polarization, said anxiety over high prices and an uncertain future were catalysts for extremist forces across Europe.
“这是不确定性、焦虑以及能源支出的组合，”梅尔茨表示，“这引发了通货膨胀和更高的住房成本。所以人们真的在担心接下来会发生什么，未来会是什么样子。”
“This is a composition of uncertainty, anxiousness, and spending money for energy,” triggering inflation and higher housing costs, Merz said. “So people are really fearing what is next and what comes in our future.
上个月，梅尔茨遭受重创，他的中间偏右基民盟在一系列州选举中被极右翼德国选择党击溃，引发了对他总理职位的猜测。即使面对二战后德国总理最差的民调支持率，梅尔茨也誓言推进养老金制度和劳动力市场改革计划。
The German leader suffered a blow last month after his center-right Christian Democrats were trounced by the far-right Alternative for Germany in a string of state elections, giving rise to speculation about his chancellorship. Even as he confronts the worst polling for a post-World War II German chancellor, Merz has vowed to move ahead with a program of reforms to the country’s pension system and labor market.
梅尔茨在开幕为期两天的投资者大会时发表了上述讲话，旨在吸引私人资本，包括德国政府与人工智能芯片制造商英伟达公司之间的一项联合声明，旨在开发工业人工智能，这将涉及欧洲最大经济体“数十亿”的投资，梅尔茨表示。
Merz spoke as he opened a two-day investors’ conference in a bid to draw private capital, including a joint declaration between the German government and AI chipmaker Nvidia Corp. to develop industrial AI, which will involve “billions” in investment in Europe’s biggest economy, Merz said.
“我非常希望他们能够坚持他们所承诺的内容，”默茨在登台与英伟达首席执行官黄仁勋一起开启会议之前这样说道。
“I very much hope that they will stick to what they promised,” Merz said, just before joining Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang on stage to kick off the conference.
随着德国领导人试图推进其议程，他的努力受到了德国选择党（AfD）选举成绩的影响。该党在萨克森-安哈尔特东部地区取得了压倒性胜利，仅差一步就能获得绝对多数，从而领导联邦德国成立以来首个极右翼州政府。
As the German leader seeks to move forward with his agenda, his efforts have been dented by the fortunes of the AfD, whose resounding victory in the eastern region of Saxony-Anhalt put it just short of an outright majority to lead the first far-right state government since the federal republic was founded.
该党主张大规模驱逐外国人，同时也在波罗的海沿岸州梅克伦堡-前波美拉尼亚取得胜利，而基民盟（CDU）则首次在其历史上被逐出州议会。
The party, which advocates large-scale deportations of foreigners, also won in the Baltic coast state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, while the CDU was ousted from a state parliament for the first time in its history.
当被问及AfD退出欧元区的野心时，默茨表示，他将“做任何事情”以确保德国仍然是欧洲货币体系的锚石。
Asked about the AfD’s ambition to exit the euro area, Merz said he would do “anything” to ensure Germany remained an anchor in the continent’s monetary system.
“如果德国退出货币联盟，那么货币联盟本身就会崩溃，”默茨说。“但最大的损害将落在德国身上，因为我们确实依赖并从这一欧洲一体化中获益。这是我们最大的优势之一。”他还提到，欧盟领导人上周达成了一项协议，赋予新一套权力以应对胁迫性贸易行为，其中包括一项工具，可将该集团的单一市场与中国等经济竞争对手隔离开来。
“If Germany would leave the monetary union, the monetary union for itself would collapse,” Merz said. “But the biggest damage would come to Germany, because we are really relying and benefiting from this European integration. This is one of our biggest advantages.”The chancellor also touted an agreement by EU leaders last week on a new set of powers to counter coercive trade practices, including a tool that would cut of the bloc’s single market from economic rivals such as China.
“我们不希望与中国爆发贸易战，”他说，尽管他对欧盟领导人在采取行动方面表现出的团结程度感到惊讶。
“We don’t want a trade war with China,” he said, though he expressed surprise at the level of unity by EU leaders to take action.
“在这27个政府或国家首脑中，有一个非常明确的立场：我们必须应对失衡、过剩产能、补贴和低估的货币问题——并且我们觉得自己有足够的实力进入讨论，”默茨说。
There was “a very clear position from every 27 heads of governments or state in this group that we have to give an answer to imbalances, to over-capacities, to subsidies, to undervalued currencies — and that we are feeling strong enough to come into a discussion,” Merz said.
此次会议是柏林举办的首个此类政府主办的活动，凸显德国在面对来自中国的日益加剧的竞争、紧张的跨大西洋关系以及国内政治动荡之际，重新努力发挥其经济实力。
The conference is the first such event hosted by a government in Berlin, highlighting a renewed effort to harness Germany’s economic strength as it confronts increased competition from China, a tense transatlantic relationship and political turmoil at home.
根据政府数据，企业已宣布今年将进行超过2000亿欧元（约合2240亿美元）的私人投资。默茨政府正竞相吸引更多风险投资进入德国的初创企业领域，该领域在德国仍相对较小。
Companies have announced private investments of more than €200 billion ($224 billion) for this year, according to government figures. Merz’s government is bidding to attract more venture capital in the startup scene, which is still relatively small in Germany.