“Die Italiener kommen”, screamed a headline(头条惊呼) in June in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), a normally sober(冷静的) German daily. The Italians in question(所涉及的) are not tourists coming for German sights or workers coming for German jobs. Rather, despite what the FAZ calls Italy’s “lower economic prestige”, it is Italian banks and businesses salivating(垂涎欲滴) over the giant German market and its choicest cuts(最精华的部分).
“意大利人来了”，《法兰克福汇报》（FAZ）六月的一则头条惊呼道。这份通常冷静的德国日报用词如此耸动。这里说的意大利人既不是来德国观光的游客，也不是来德国找工作的劳工。相反，尽管《法兰克福汇报》称意大利“经济声望较低”，但如今是意大利的银行和企业对庞大的德国市场及其最精华的部分垂涎欲滴。
On October 15th UniCredit, Italy’s second-biggest lender by assets and revenue, said it got the nod(获得批准) from the European Central Bank (ECB) to seal(敲定、完成) a €45bn ($51bn) hostile takeover(敌意收购) of Commerzbank, its German opposite number(对应职位的人/机构). The banking deal is the biggest of recent Italo-German mergers. But it is part of a much larger feast(一场更大的盛宴).
10月15日，意大利资产和收入规模第二大的银行裕信银行表示，已获得欧洲央行（ECB）批准，将完成对德国同业德国商业银行450亿欧元（510亿美元）的敌意收购。这是近期意德合并中规模最大的一笔银行交易。但它只是一场更大盛宴的一部分。
Earlier this year Italo, an Italian high-speed railway operator, entered Germany. By 2028 it plans to challenge state-owned Deutsche Bahn along two lucrative(利润丰厚的) routes: Munich-Cologne-Dortmund and Munich-Berlin-Hamburg. A year ago MediaForEurope, the empire(帝国、商业王国) controlled by the family of Silvio Berlusconi(意大利前总理贝卢斯科尼), a late former prime minister, paid €1.8bn for ProSiebenSat.1, Germany’s second-biggest private broadcaster—and immediately replaced Bert Habets, ProSieben’s Dutch boss, with an Italian, Marco Giordani.
今年早些时候，意大利高铁运营商Italo进入德国市场。到2028年，它计划在两条利润丰厚的线路上挑战国有德国铁路：慕尼黑—科隆—多特蒙德和慕尼黑—柏林—汉堡。一年前，已故前总理西尔维奥·贝卢斯科尼家族控制的媒体帝国MediaForEurope以18亿欧元收购德国第二大私营广播公司ProSiebenSat.1，并立即用意大利人马可·焦尔达尼取代了ProSieben的荷兰籍老板伯特·哈贝茨。