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How an 18th-century French abbot still sways the EU
18世纪法国修道院院长的思想主张为何依然影响欧盟
The “Project for Bringing About Perpetual Peace in Europe” did not receive rave reviews when published in 1713. Voltaire thought the author, the Abbot of Saint-Pierre, was deluded. “The peace…will no more be realised than among elephants, rhinoceroses, wolves, or dogs,” he wrote. Showing less understanding of nature than of politics, he added: “Carnivorous animals will always tear one another to pieces at the first opportunity.”
《争取欧洲永久和平方案》在1713年发表时并没有得到高度评价。伏尔泰认为作者圣皮埃尔神父，没有分清事实真相。因为他在文中写道：“欧洲和平的实现不会比大象、犀牛、狼或狗之间的和平共处简单。”他还说：“食肉动物只要一有机会就相互伤害， ”这表明他对自然法则的理解还不如对政治问题的理解。
Over the years, European intellectuals queued up to give the work a kicking. Immanuel Kant poked holes in it. Rousseau labelled it naive. Frederick II of Prussia declared the plan “very practicable: all it lacks to be successful is the consent of all Europe and a few other such small details.” Yet skip forward three centuries and the plan is, more or less, in place as the European Union.
多年来，欧洲知识分子纷纷对永久和平方案进行抨击。伊曼努尔·康德在其观点中找漏洞。卢梭称圣皮埃尔的思想有时如同孩童般天真。普鲁士国王腓特烈二世则表示该计划“完全可行：前提是所有欧洲国家都得同意，还包括其他一些类似的小细节”。然而三个世纪过后的今天，这个计划方案是差不多合适的，就像如今的欧盟一样。
To understand the eu today, one could usefully turn to the works of the abbot, now largely forgotten outside academia. Glance between Saint-Pierre’s 18th-century blueprint and the eu as it stands, and they are strikingly similar. In both cases, European countries agree to club together, submit themselves to the rulings of a court and devise rules by means of a continental parliament. Both have a rotating presidency. Contributions to the budget are based on wealth. Saint-Pierre even called his scheme a “European union”. Only Saint-Pierre’s inclusion of long-defunct countries such as Venice and Savoy gives the game away.
想要了解今天的欧盟，大家不妨看看神父的著作，如今在学术界之外大部分已被遗忘。看看圣皮埃尔18世纪的规划和现在的欧盟，你会发现它们惊人地相似。在这两种情况下，欧洲国家都同意联合起来，服从欧盟法院的规定，并通过欧洲大陆议会制定规章制度。两者均为轮值主席制度。对欧盟预算的贡献同是基于财富水平。圣皮埃尔甚至把他的方案也称为“欧盟”。唯一的差异在于，圣皮埃尔当初将威尼斯共和国和萨沃伊等如今早已不复存在的国家列为成员国。
