外刊精读（2）｜西班牙老国王跑路
百度翻译：
@ The Wall Street Journal
Spain’s former King Juan Carlos I surprised his country this month when he said he was going into exile amid escalating judicial investigations of his finances. His choice of new home has raised Spaniards’ eyebrows further: the United Arab Emirates, in the Gulf region where his business dealings triggered the scandals that are battering his reputation.
Spain is re-evaluating the fallen monarch who played a central role in its recent history. Juan Carlos was pivotal in restoring and defending Spanish democracy after decades of dictatorship under Francisco Franco, and Spain’s successful transition won him the continuing respect of many in Spain. But his lavish lifestyle and opaque activities better befitted a potentate from Europe’s past, and grew increasingly incompatible with popular expectations in a modern democracy, biographers and historians say.
Juan Carlos left Spain at the prompting of his son and successor, King Felipe VI, to prevent the scandals and investigations surrounding the retired king from sullying Spain’s monarchy as a whole. But it was Juan Carlos who opted for the U.A.E., a federation of absolute monarchies that is often criticized as an opaque financial center. Choosing the Gulf rather than another European country has further embarrassed the monarchy, said Sandra León, a political scientist at Madrid’s Carlos III University.
“Juan Carlos was supposed to choose an unproblematic country, but he didn’t,” she said.
Spain’s Supreme Court is investigating possible money laundering and tax evasion involving Juan Carlos and several people close to him. A Swiss prosecutor is probing whether multimillion-dollar payments from Saudi Arabia benefited the former king, as well as the motives for a large gift from him to one of his former partners, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.
He hasn’t been charged with a crime or named as a suspect in the Spanish or Swiss probes. He hasn’t commented on the cases. His lawyer Javier Sánchez-Junco said in August that the former king remains at the disposal of the investigators.
During his reign until 2014, Juan Carlos cultivated business relationships in the Middle East as well as South America, helping Spanish companies to win deals there. A contract in Saudi Arabia to build a high-speed rail link between Mecca and Medina, awarded to a Spanish consortium in 2011, is now a part of the investigations.
Juan Carlos also developed friendships in the U.A.E., including in Dubai, whose ruler gifted him two Ferraris in 2011, as well as with Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who owns British soccer club Manchester City and took Juan Carlos to see games there.
News of the Swiss investigation in March, followed by the Spanish probe in June, prompted the flight of Juan Carlos from the country he reigned over for nearly 40 years.
The investigations have further tarnished his standing in Spain, as well as the monarchy’s. King Felipe this spring renounced any personal financial inheritance from his father, in a move to distance himself from Juan Carlos’s scandals. Felipe also stripped his father of his annual stipend of around €200,000 (about $236,000).
Spaniards are now coming to terms with the contradictions that Juan Carlos embodies. Franco hoped the young Bourbon prince would maintain an authoritarian regime after him, as he had sworn he would in 1969. But after Franco died in 1975, newly crowned King Juan Carlos soon sanctioned a liberal democratic constitution. In 1981, Juan Carlos played a leading part in thwarting an attempted military coup. Those moments earned him a place as one of modern Spain’s founding figures.
But at the same time, Juan Carlos led a luxurious lifestyle with minimal transparency. He accumulated vast wealth whose origins are now coming under growing scrutiny. His large collections of luxury cars and watches became legendary, as did his affairs. Biographers attribute to him four serious relationships and hundreds of other partners during his marriage to Queen Sofia, who has not joined him in the U.A.E. His behavior reminded some observers of premodern European kings, who would marry to further their dynasty, but then live as freely as they pleased.
“King Juan Carlos should have been a lot more careful with what he was doing, as he wasn’t an absolute king,” said Ángel Bahamonde, professor of contemporary history at Carlos III University.
A spokesman for the royal family declined to comment on Juan Carlos’s private life, in keeping with the palace’s past practice.
Spaniards tolerated rumors about their king’s lifestyle, and the media rarely talked about his finances or infidelities, until the financial crisis a decade ago. In 2012, when Spaniards were reeling from a severe debt crisis, economic depression and austerity, they learned that the king had broken his hip—while hunting elephants in Botswana with his former lover Ms. zu Sayn-Wittgenstein.
“That was the time the Spanish society woke up. Before that, Juan Carlos was perceived as a down-to-earth and empathetic person, close to ordinary people,” said Ms. León.
Amid public anger, the media dropped its respectful silence and reported on the king’s extramarital affairs and the unclear sources of his wealth. Juan Carlos abdicated in 2014, but scandals and inquests have continued to dog him.
“Now there is a widespread feeling of frustration and betrayal,” said José Antonio Zarzalejos, a Spanish commentator and author. But the anger will subside, he predicted. “As time passes, a more balanced picture will remain,” he said. “It will take time for a fair historical judgment.”
Reprinted by permission of The Wall Street Journal, Copyright 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
Original Date of Publication: Aug. 27, 2020
百度翻译：
@华尔街日报
本月，西班牙前国王胡安·卡洛斯一世（Juan Carlos I）表示，由于对其财政状况的司法调查不断升级，他将流亡海外。他选择了新家，这让西班牙人更加不满：阿拉伯联合酋长国，在海湾地区，他的生意往来引发了一些丑闻，这些丑闻正在损害他的声誉。
西班牙正在重新评估这位在西班牙近代史上扮演重要角色的已故君主。胡安·卡洛斯在弗朗西斯科·佛朗哥（Francisco Franco）领导下的数十年独裁统治后，在恢复和捍卫西班牙民主方面发挥了关键作用，西班牙的成功过渡为他赢得了许多西班牙民众的持续尊重。但传记作家和历史学家说，他奢华的生活方式和不透明的活动更适合欧洲过去的一位权贵，而且越来越不符合现代民主国家的大众期望。
胡安·卡洛斯在他的儿子和继任者国王菲利佩六世的鼓励下离开西班牙，以防止围绕这位退休国王的丑闻和调查玷污整个西班牙的君主制。但正是胡安·卡洛斯选择了联合酋长国，一个由绝对君主政体组成的联合体，经常被批评为不透明的金融中心。马德里卡洛斯三世大学的政治学家桑德拉·莱昂说，选择海湾而不是另一个欧洲国家，这进一步让君主制感到尴尬。
她说：“胡安·卡洛斯应该选择一个没有问题的国家，但他没有。”。
西班牙最高法院正在调查胡安·卡洛斯（Juan Carlos）和他身边的几个人可能涉嫌洗钱和逃税。一名瑞士检察官正在调查沙特阿拉伯数百万美元的付款是否有利于这位前国王，以及他送给他的前搭档科琳娜祖赛恩·维特根斯坦（Corinna zu Sayn Wittgenstein）一大笔礼物的动机。
他没有被指控犯罪，也没有在西班牙或瑞士的调查中被列为嫌疑人。他还没有对案件发表评论。他的律师贾维尔·桑切斯·容科（javiersanchez Junco）在8月份说，这位前国王仍在调查人员的掌握之中。
胡安·卡洛斯（Juan Carlos）在位至2014年期间，在中东和南美建立了业务关系，帮助西班牙公司在那里赢得交易。2011年，一份在沙特阿拉伯修建麦加和麦地那之间的高速铁路的合同被授予一家西班牙财团，现在已经成为调查的一部分。
胡安·卡洛斯在阿联酋也建立了友谊，包括在迪拜，迪拜的统治者在2011年送给他两辆法拉利，以及阿布扎比的谢赫·曼苏尔·本·扎耶德·阿尔·纳哈扬（Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan）也结下了友谊，后者拥有英国曼城足球俱乐部，并带胡安·卡洛斯去那里看比赛。
今年3月瑞士调查的消息，以及6月西班牙调查的消息，促使胡安·卡洛斯（Juan Carlos）逃离他统治了近40年的国家。
调查进一步玷污了他在西班牙以及君主制国家的地位。今年春天，费利佩国王放弃了他父亲的任何个人财产继承权，此举是为了与胡安·卡洛斯的丑闻保持距离。费利佩还剥夺了父亲大约20万欧元（约23.6万美元）的年薪。
西班牙人现在开始接受胡安·卡洛斯所体现的矛盾。佛朗哥希望这位年轻的波旁王子能像1969年那样，在他之后维持一个独裁政权。但1975年佛朗哥去世后，新加冕的国王胡安·卡洛斯很快批准了自由民主党宪法。1981年，卡洛斯在一次军事政变中扮演领导角色。这些时刻使他成为现代西班牙的开国元勋之一。
但与此同时，胡安·卡洛斯过着奢华的生活，透明度很低。他积累了巨额财富，其来源正受到越来越多的关注。他收藏的大量豪车和名表成为传奇，他的私事也成了传奇。传记作家将他与索菲亚女王（Queen Sofia）结婚期间的四段严肃关系和数百名其他伴侣归为他所有。索菲亚女王还没有加入阿联酋，他的行为让一些观察家想起了前现代的欧洲国王，他们愿意为自己的王朝而结婚，但过着自由自在的生活。
卡洛斯三世大学当代历史教授安格尔·巴哈蒙德说：“胡安·卡洛斯国王应该对他所做的事情更加小心，因为他不是一个绝对的国王。”。
王室发言人拒绝就胡安·卡洛斯的私生活置评，这与皇宫过去的做法一致。
西班牙人容忍关于他们国王生活方式的谣言，直到十年前的金融危机，媒体也很少谈论他的财务状况或不忠行为。2012年，当西班牙人饱受严重债务危机、经济萧条和紧缩政策的困扰时，他们得知国王与前情人祖赛恩·维特根斯坦女士在博茨瓦纳狩猎大象时摔断了臀部。
“那是西班牙社会觉醒的时候。在此之前，胡安·卡洛斯被认为是一个脚踏实地、富有同情心的人，与普通人关系密切。
在公众的愤怒中，媒体放下恭敬的沉默，报道了国王的婚外情和财富来源不明。胡安·卡洛斯在2014年退位，但丑闻和调查继续困扰着他。
西班牙评论员兼作家何塞·安东尼奥·扎扎勒霍斯（JoséAntonio Zarzalejos）说：“现在人们普遍感到沮丧和背叛。但是愤怒会平息，他预言。他说：“随着时间的推移，一个更加平衡的局面将继续存在。”。“公正的历史判断需要时间。”
经《华尔街日报》许可转载，版权所有2020道琼斯公司。全球版权所有。
原发布日期：2020年8月27日