Rome’s mayor has announced her opposition to Italy’s bid to host the Olympic Games in 2024, in a move that is likely to mean the end of the capital’s ambitious campaign.
羅馬市長表態(tài)反對意大利申辦2024年奧運(yùn)會,這可能為羅馬期待已久的申奧之旅畫上句號。
Virginia Raggi was elected in June and has faced a tumultuous start to her tenure.
維吉尼亞•拉吉在六月當(dāng)選羅馬市長,任期伊始便面臨混亂場面。
“We are effectively asking the people of Rome and of Italy to shoulder the debts. We just don’t support it,” Raggi said on Wednesday.
“這實(shí)際上在向羅馬甚至全國人民攤派債務(wù)。我不能支持這種做法,”拉吉在周三表示。
The announcement will add to concerns that the Olympic Games are increasingly being viewed with scepticism by potential host cities who worry about costs, environmental concerns, and the objections of local citizens.
因擔(dān)心產(chǎn)生巨大開銷和環(huán)境問題,害怕當(dāng)?shù)孛癖姺磳?,候選城市正日益對奧運(yùn)會投向質(zhì)疑的目光。這番表態(tài)無疑將加重這種印象。
While the Roma 2024 campaign has not formally abandoned its bid, organisers had already suggested that the mayor’s support would be necessary to continue. The move leaves Paris, Los Angeles and Budapest in contention. Boston and Hamburg, two other early potential candidates, have already pulled out.
雖然官方還未正式放棄申奧,但組織人員已暗示沒了市長的支持,申奧活動(dòng)難以為繼。波士頓和漢堡這兩個(gè)可能的候選城市早在之前就已退出。這一變化會使此次申奧成為巴黎、洛杉磯和布達(dá)佩斯的角逐。
The decision was not surprising because Raggi had already signalled during her election campaign that she did not support the Olympic bid. Her party, the Five Star Movement, is vehemently opposed to unwieldy infrastructure projects and initiatives that are seen as vanity projects that come at a high cost to taxpayers.
這一決定可謂意料之中,早在市長競選時(shí)拉吉就透露過不支持申奧。她所屬的五星運(yùn)動(dòng)黨強(qiáng)烈反對不實(shí)用的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施項(xiàng)目和倡議,將這些視為給納稅人帶來沉重負(fù)擔(dān)的面子工程。
The decision came at a time when Raggi has come under pressure to right the course of her administration following a series of personnel issues, and when Italy’s prime minister Matteo Renzi, who enthusiastically launched the bid in December 2014, is facing a difficult referendum this autumn that could – at least temporarily – end his career in politics.
拉吉作出放棄申奧的決定之時(shí),正值輿論要求自己糾正執(zhí)政方向。此前發(fā)生了一系列人事問題。2014年12月,意大利總理馬泰奧•倫齊滿懷熱情地宣布進(jìn)行申奧。而這個(gè)秋天他正面臨一場困難的公投,若不是滅頂之災(zāi),至少也會暫時(shí)結(jié)束他的政治生涯。
Renzi had launched the Olympic bid even though Rome at the time found itself at the centre of a series of public corruption scandals that came to be known as Mafia Capitale, raising questions about whether it could pull off a “clean” Olympics.
倫齊宣布申奧時(shí),羅馬正陷于一場公開的貪腐丑聞“黑手黨案”(Mafia Capitale),這使得人們質(zhì)疑羅馬是否能舉辦一場“干凈”的奧運(yùn)。
“We can’t allow our problems to stop us from dreaming,” he said in 2014.
“我們不能讓問題阻止我們追夢的腳步,”他在2014年這樣說道。
For proponents of the bid, the idea of hosting the Olympic Games, while daunting, was seen as a way for the city to unite around a lofty goal, and a way to give the city the motivation necessary to pull off a huge global event that could return the city to the glory days of La Dolce Vita.
對申奧的支持者來說,舉辦奧運(yùn)會雖然任務(wù)艱巨,卻不失為一種手段,讓整個(gè)城市在一個(gè)崇高的目標(biāo)之下團(tuán)結(jié)一體,賦予羅馬必要的動(dòng)力舉辦一場全球盛會,從而使羅馬能重回《甜蜜生活》中的光輝歲月。
If Renzi’s view was too optimistic, then Raggi’s may have sounded a bit too downtrodden. The 38-year-old lawyer said the city was still paying debts it had accrued for the Games in 1960, and would not stand for more “cathedrals in the desert” – abandoned stadiums – that the city could ill afford.
如果說倫齊太過樂觀,那么拉吉的想法可能聽起來有點(diǎn)太過壓抑。這位38歲的律師說,這座城市依然在償還1960年奧運(yùn)會欠下的債務(wù),不能再有更多“荒原上的教堂”了,城市已難以承受更多棄置的體育館。
“The Olympics are a dream that turn into a nightmare. I don’t have all the facts about Rio, but we have the image in our eyes of the citizens of Rio,” she said.
“奧林匹克這場美夢已成為一個(gè)夢魘。我不了解里約經(jīng)歷了什么,但在我們身上看得到里約市民的影子,”她說。
The day included a touch of drama after Italy’s Olympic Committee president, Giovanni Malago, who was supposed to meet with Raggi before the press conference, left city hall in a huff after complaining that he had waited for her for half an hour but that she had not showed up.
這一天還發(fā)生了一個(gè)小插曲。意大利奧委會主席喬凡尼•馬拉戈本要在新聞發(fā)布會之前與拉吉碰面,但最終氣沖沖地離開市政廳,抱怨說拉吉讓他等了半個(gè)小時(shí)也沒有露面。