NOWADAYS IT IS commonplace(司空见惯的) to build walls between countries. But this week a barrier came down. Amid popular celebration, at midnight on July 14th border controls ceased between Gibraltar, a self-governing(自治的) British sovereign(主权的) territory, and Spain. Under a treaty signed the same day between the European Union and Britain, demolition(拆除、毁坏) of the police and customs posts at the border has started. “The last wall in continental Europe has fallen,” said Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s prime minister, as he visited the site. The treaty marks a tidying up of the mess(清理烂摊子) left by Brexit. And in a region of strategic importance, in sight of the Moroccan coast, optimists hope it may herald a new era of defence co-operation between two NATO allies.(在这个具有战略意义的、能看到摩洛哥海岸的地区，乐观人士希望这可能预示两个北约盟友开启防务合作新时代。)
如今，在国家之间修建围墙已是司空见惯之事。但本周，一道屏障倒下了。在民众的欢呼声中，7月14日午夜，直布罗陀——一个自治的英国主权领土——与西班牙之间的边境管控终止了。根据欧盟与英国同日签署的一项条约，边境上的警察和海关检查站已开始拆除。西班牙首相佩德罗·桑切斯在视察现场时表示：“欧洲大陆的最后一道墙已经倒下。”该条约标志着对英国脱欧遗留的乱局进行了一次清理。在这个具有战略意义、毗邻摩洛哥海岸的地区，乐观人士希望，这或许会预示两个北约盟友之间开启一个防务合作的新时代。
With just 40,000 people crammed into narrow strips of land beneath its towering Rock, Gibraltar depends on Spain for many things, including more than 10,000 workers who cross from the town of La Línea each day.(仅有4万人挤在直布罗陀巨岩下狭长的地带，直布罗陀在许多方面依赖西班牙，其中包括每天有超过1万名工人从拉利内阿镇跨境而来。) Many Gibraltarians have second homes(第二套住房) in Spain. Not surprisingly, 96% of Gibraltarians voted to remain in the EU because Brexit implied(意味着、暗示) a hard border. That “would have been catastrophic(灾难性的) not just for us but also for the Spanish side”, says John Isola, president of the Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce.
仅有4万人挤在直布罗陀巨岩下狭长的地带，直布罗陀在许多方面依赖西班牙，其中包括每天有超过1万名工人从拉利内阿镇跨境而来。许多直布罗陀人在西班牙拥有第二套住房。毫不奇怪，96%的直布罗陀人投票支持留在欧盟，因为脱欧意味着硬边界。那“不仅对我们，对西班牙方面来说也将是灾难性的”，直布罗陀商会会长约翰·伊索拉表示。
Under the treaty, whose 1,000-plus pages took more than five years to negotiate, Gibraltar has become a de facto part of the EU’s border-free Schengen area.(根据这份长达1000多页、历时五年多谈判的条约，直布罗陀实际上已成为欧盟无边境申根区的一部分。) Non-Gibraltarian passengers arriving at its airport, whose only flights are from Britain, will have their passports checked by Spanish police. Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar’s long-serving chief minister, calls the arrangement “fluidity(流动性)”, rather than freedom of movement, since citizens of Schengen countries will not have an automatic right of residence in the territory. Gibraltar is also joining the EU’s customs union for goods. It has agreed to European standards and European taxation: having been a tax haven(避税天堂), it will now apply a transaction tax(交易税) of 15%, rising to 17% by 2028 on goods sold in the territory. It will also set excise duties(消费税) within six percentage points of Spain’s. The £10 whisky bottles in Gibraltar’s liquor stores will be no more(不再有).
根据这份长达1000多页、历时五年多谈判的条约，直布罗陀实际上已成为欧盟无边境申根区的一部分。抵达其机场（仅有的航班来自英国）的非直布罗陀旅客，将由西班牙警察检查护照。直布罗陀长期任职的首席部长法比安·皮卡尔多将这种安排称为“流动性”而非“行动自由”，因为申根国家公民不会自动获得在直布罗陀的居住权。直布罗陀还将加入欧盟的货物关税同盟。它已同意遵守欧洲标准和欧洲税收制度：曾经是避税天堂的它，现在将对在该地区销售的商品征收15%的交易税，到2028年升至17%。它还将把消费税设定在西班牙税率六个百分点以内。直布罗陀酒类商店里10英镑的威士忌将不复存在。