What does it take to forge(锻造；缔造) ever-closer union among Europeans? Ask a Eurocrat in Brussels and they will point to a torrent(洪流；大量) of harmonising(协调统一的) edicts(法令；敕令) agreed over decades of all-night summits(通宵峰会). By standardising chemicals regulations, mobile-phone chargers, bottle-cap design and so on, the European Union is pushing towards a federal state. The founding fathers of the EU championed(拥护；捍卫) this approach. For their troubles many went on to receive the Charlemagne prize(查理曼奖，欧洲重要奖项), a gong(奖章；荣誉) bestowed(授予；赠予) by worthies(贤达；要人) in Aachen, the German city from which your columnist’s namesake once ruled. These days the honour mostly goes to sitting presidents of EU institutions and other continental grandees(显贵；大人物).
要让欧洲人实现前所未有的紧密联合，需要什么条件？问问布鲁塞尔的欧盟官员，他们会指向几十年来在无数个通宵峰会上达成的一连串协调统一法令。通过统一化学品法规、手机充电器、瓶盖设计等，欧盟正朝着联邦国家的方向迈进。欧盟的创始元勋们倡导了这一路线。他们为此劳苦功高，许多人后来获得了查理曼奖——这一奖项由亚琛的贤达们颁发，而亚琛正是本专栏作者同名人物曾统治过的德国城市。如今，这一荣誉大多授予欧盟机构的现任主席和其他欧洲大陆的显贵。
Yet surely European integration is about more than summits and regulation (right?). Those who make Europe feel like a single continent not just in theory but in day-to-day life get too little recognition. A bauble(小玩意；不值钱的装饰品) is needed for those who knit Europeans together without ever having attended a summit or negotiated a directive. One might call it the Charlemagne column prize, or “Charlie” for short. The nominees for the inaugural(就职的；开幕的) award are…
然而，欧洲一体化肯定不止于峰会和法规（对吧？）。那些让欧洲不仅在理论上、而且在日常生活中感觉像同一个大陆的人，得到的认可太少了。我们需要一个“小玩意儿”来奖励那些从未参加过峰会、也从未谈判过指令、却将欧洲人紧密联结在一起的人。或许可以称之为“查理曼专栏奖”，简称“查理奖”。首届奖项的提名名单如下……
Michael O’Leary. The EU is keen on(热衷于) free movement. Mr O’Leary, the boss of Ryanair(瑞安航空，欧洲廉价航空) since 1994, has enabled the next best thing(次优选择): very cheap movement indeed. Fancy a weekend in a fourth-tier Romanian city? If you don’t mind waking up before dawn and dragging yourself to a “secondary airport” far removed from human civilisation, you can get there for the price of a sandwich lunch. The cantankerous(脾气暴躁的) Irishman annoys EU-wallahs by railing against(猛烈抨击) regulation—while having benefited from their drive to allow low-cost airlines to compete against staid(古板的；稳重的) flag-carriers.
迈克尔·奥利里。欧盟热衷于人员自由流动。自1994年起担任瑞安航空老板的奥利里先生，实现了次优方案：真正非常廉价的流动。想不想去罗马尼亚一个四线城市度个周末？如果你不介意天没亮就起床，拖着身子去一个远离人类文明的“次级机场”，你就能以一顿三明治午餐的价格到达那里。这位脾气暴躁的爱尔兰人一边抨击监管，一边却受益于欧盟推动低成本航空公司与老牌国有航空公司竞争的努力，这让欧盟官员们很恼火。
And the Charlie goes to...
查理奖将颁给……