Charlemagne 查理曼大帝
Can the European Union learn to love a common culture? 歐盟能學習熱愛共同的文化嗎？
No one swoons over the single market 沒有人為單一市場傾倒
Oct 15th 2020
Bauhaus and Brussels are an uneasy mix. Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus art school, which shaped design in the 20th century, declared that a building “must be true to itself, logically transparent, and virginal of lies or trivialities”. A short stroll around the eu quarter in Brussels reveals buildings that happily violate all these rules. Post-modern monstrosities butt against merely ridiculous buildings with nicknames such as the Space Egg. Inside, things are often little better, with lurid colour schemes providing an absurd backdrop for serious discussion and layouts straight out of Maurits Escher’s paintings of “impossible constructions”. Bauhaus principles led to the iPhone, a triumph of simple design. eu design principles led to a building with floor numbers that go: 02, 01, 00, 10, 20, 35, 50, 60, 70, 80.
包浩斯（Bauhaus）和布魯塞爾是個不自在的組合。包浩斯藝術學校塑造了20世紀的設計，創始人格羅佩斯（Walter Gropius）宣稱，建築物「必須忠於自身、邏輯透明，且未受謊言或繁瑣汙染」。在布魯塞爾的歐盟區附近漫步，會發現建築物樂於違反上述的所有規定。後現代的龐大怪物鄰接暱稱「太空蛋」的荒謬建築。內部情況通常也好不到哪裡去（*注意little隱含的否定意味）柔和配色方案為討論正事提供可笑的背景，並直接採用艾雪畫作中《不可能的結構》布局。包浩斯原則促成iPhone，簡約設計的典範。歐盟設計原則導致建築物的樓層編號為：02、01、00、10、20、35、50、60、70、80。
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, believes a bit of Bauhaus spirit is exactly what the eu needs. As part of the bloc’s flagship “green deal” reforms, the eu will found a European Bauhaus movement to ape the influential design school that ran from 1919 to 1933 in Germany. “It needs to be a new cultural project for Europe,” said Mrs von der Leyen, speaking last month in the European Parliament, which is nicknamed Le Caprice des Dieux due to its resemblance to a cheese of that name. Although it was still nebulous, Mrs von der Leyen spelled out a vision of architects, artists and engineers combining as they did a century ago in Weimar Germany, except this time to help stave off climate change as well as designing natty buildings. “We need to give our systemic change its own distinct aesthetic,” she declared.
歐盟執委會主席范德賴恩相信，歐盟需要的正是包浩斯精神。歐盟將推動歐洲包浩斯運動，以模仿1919年至1933年德國具影響力的設計學校，作為歐盟集團指標性「綠色協議」改革的一部分。上月在歐洲議會發言的范德賴恩說：「這需是歐洲的一個新文化計畫。」歐洲議會因為外形似乳酪，又被暱稱為卡布里絲乳酪。儘管仍很模糊，范德賴恩描述一個結合建築師、藝術家和工程師的願景，就像他們一世紀前在德國魏瑪所做的一樣，只是這次除了設計時髦建築，也為了延緩氣候變遷。她宣稱：「我們的系統性轉變必須有自己獨特的美感。」
Such forays into the world of culture had become relatively rare for eu leaders. When European federalism was in its pomp, Jacques Delors, the commission president who oversaw the creation of the single market and the introduction of the Maastricht treaty in the 1980s and 1990s, warned that economic integration was not enough. “You cannot fall in love with the single market,” he put it, repeatedly. But a decade of crisis then led to leaders trying to avoid divorce rather than increase romance. Until Mrs von der Leyen’s speech, calls for a common culture were unusual. Officials in Brussels hide under the desk when someone mentions the c-word. Within the eu institutions, culture is often a punchbag. In “The Capital”, a satire by Robert Menasse set in the Brussels bubble, the main characters are frustrated officials in the commission’s culture department. The eu’s cultural efforts are easy to lampoon and the new Bauhaus is no exception. It can trigger a cartoonish image of fashionable men in expensive spectacles designing ecologically sound window frames in exchange for tax-free salaries.
對歐盟領導人而言，如此進入文化世界的嘗試相對罕見。在歐洲聯邦主義的盛期，時任委員會主席的德洛爾（Jacques Delors）警告，經濟一體化還不夠，他監督單一市場的創立及1980年代與1990年代《馬斯特裏赫特條約》(即《歐洲聯盟條約》）的推行。他不斷重申「你不能愛上單一市場」。但是十年的危機並未使領導人感情增溫，而是難受的避免分裂。在范德賴恩之前，要求共同文化的呼聲並不尋常，一旦有人提到C開頭的字時，布魯塞爾的官員便強烈迴避。在歐盟機構內部，文化通常是一個攻擊目標。梅納瑟（Robert Menasse）的諷刺著作《首都》，場景就設定在布魯塞爾泡泡中，主角是備感挫折的執委會文化部門官員。歐盟的文化努力易遭諷刺，新包浩斯也不例外。它可以激發出卡通人物形象：戴著昂貴眼鏡的時髦男子設計著對生態友善的窗框，換取薪資免課稅。
For others, cultural projects are the missing part of an at-times-bloodless project. The eu was set up in part to stop proud European nations murdering each other. It did so via technocratic, economic and, frankly, rather dull means. When it comes to culture, there is a feeling of caution bordering on cowardice among European officials. For an example, pull out a wedge of euro notes. Rather than founding fathers or recognisable monuments that may inflame national jealousies, citizens are left with pictures of windows and bridges that do not exist (or did not until one enterprising town in the Netherlands recreated each bridge over a canal as a tourist attraction). It is better to have a row about who goes on bank notes than a pallid, purely economic relationship with an increasingly powerful institution, argues Giuliano da Empoli, director of Volta, a think-tank.
對其他人而言，文化是這個有時顯得冷血的計畫中遺失的部分。歐盟的成立部分是為了制止驕傲的歐洲國家互相謀殺，透過專業型官僚、經濟和坦白說相當乏味的手段實現。一提到文化，謹慎近乎怯弱的氣氛便瀰漫在歐洲官員間。例如，拿出一疊歐元紙幣，沒有發現可能激起國家嫉妒的偉人或標誌性紀念碑，而是留下不存在的窗戶和橋樑圖案（直到一個有魄力的荷蘭小鎮，在運河上重建每座橋樑作為旅遊景點）。智庫Volta的董事恩波利（Giuliano da Empoli）主張，與其與一個日益強大的機構建立一種蒼白的、純粹的經濟關係，不如就誰該出現在鈔票上大吵一架。
Worrying about the appearance of bank notes rather than their value can appear divorced from reality. Yet the eu’s critics have few qualms about fighting a culture war. In relative terms, the country that spends most on culture is not France, with its world-class museums and general fetish for intellectualism, but Hungary. Viktor Orban, the prime minister, rails against art that is pro-gay or anti-ruling party. His government spends a colossal 3% of annual gdp on “recreation, culture and religion”, often on things such as the swanky football stadium next door to Mr Orban’s country estate. For eurocrats to bang on about culture from an ugly building in Brussels during a pandemic may seem like a parody of disconnection. But if they avoid the topic, the eu’s enemies will happily fill the gaps, argues Mr da Empoli. “A realist in Europe knows that it is not rationality that wins elections,” he adds. “A realist is someone who knows that symbols are what carry the day.”
擔心鈔票外觀而非其價值，可能會與現實脫節。然而，歐盟的批評家不會對打一場文化大戰感到內疚。相對來說，文化上花費最多的國家，不是擁有世界級博物館和對知識分子普遍崇拜的法國，而是匈牙利。匈牙利總理奧班（Viktor Orban）譴責挺同性戀或反執政黨的藝術。他的政府在「娛樂、文化和宗教」上的龐大支出占每年國民生產總值（GDP）的3％，通常花費在奧班的鄉村莊園旁邊興建豪華足球場之類的事。對歐盟官僚來說，疫情期間還從布魯塞爾醜陋建築裏喋喋不休談論文化，可能像是一種脫節的滑稽模仿秀。但恩波利主張，如果歐盟迴避這個話題，對手將很樂意填補空白。「歐洲的現實主義者知道不是理性贏得選舉。」他補充說：「現實主義者明白，勝利的是象徵符號。」
Don’t let the devil have all the best tunes
別讓魔鬼擁有所有最棒的聲調
An emphasis on culture can come with a dark side. Hungary and other small countries, such as Estonia, which ranks second in the spending stakes on culture, invest so much because they worry about disappearing. Strip out language and culture and there is little left of small nations, points out one diplomat. They are no longer alone in this petrified world-view, which is found at the eu’s highest levels. Eurocrats veer between hoping that the eu will be a global superpower and worrying that it will become an irrelevant peninsula. “This civilisation—Europe is a civilisation—could be clearly threatened by this geopolitical evolution,” warned Josep Borrell, the bloc’s foreign-policy chief, in a recent speech. It is a sentiment with which Mr Orban would agree. And that should make leaders pause. After all, a paranoid bloc is not a wise one.
對文化的強調可能帶有陰暗面。匈牙利和其他小國（像是愛沙尼亞在文化的投入比重排名第二）之所以會大量投資，是因為他們擔心消失。一位外交官指出，剝奪語言和文化，小國幾乎什麼也不剩。持有僵化世界觀的不只有他們，這也出現在歐盟的最高層級。歐洲人在希望歐盟成為世界強權和擔心將成為無關緊要的半島之間搖擺。歐盟外交政策主管博雷爾（Josep Borrell）在最近的一次談話警告：「這種文明-歐洲是一個文明-顯然會受到地緣政治演變的威脅。」奧班同意這一觀點。這應該使領導者停下來。畢竟，偏執的集團並不明智。
If the eu is determined to embroil itself in a clash of civilisations, its leaders must ponder some simple but fundamental questions. What exactly is European culture? How, exactly, can transnational politics shape it? And what, exactly, is the point? After six decades of integration, the eu has created a relatively homogenous economic bloc. But creating a shared European culture is a completely different kind of challenge. Brussels can tinker, setting standards for buildings, shovelling money into theatres and helping small countries preserve their languages. But culture is a living thing, that evolves from the bottom up. It is beyond the capacity of any superstate to control. ■
如果歐盟決心捲入文明衝突，領導人必須思考一些簡單但基本的問題。歐盟文化到底是什麼？確切地來說，跨國政治如何塑造它？實際的關鍵是什麼？經過60年的整合，歐盟創造了一個相對同質的經濟集團。但是，創造一種共享的歐洲文化是完全不同的挑戰。布魯塞爾可以改進，設置建築物標準、在劇院上砸錢並幫助小國保留其語言。但是文化是活的、從底層向上發展的，這是任何超級國家所無法控制的。
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