The politically toxic subject of financial support for Greece burst into Germany’s election campaign yesterday as Wolfgang Sch?uble, finance minister, acknowledged for the first time Athens would need a third bailout.

向希腊提供财务支持这一爆炸性的政治话题昨日闯入德国大选的竞选活动，德国财政部长沃尔夫冈·朔伊布勒(Wolfgang Sch?uble)首次承认，希腊将需要第三轮纾困。

With barely a policy difference to separate Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats from the main opposition Social Democrats in their approach to the eurozone debt crisis, the subject had been delicately avoided in the run-up to the September 22 general election.

鉴于德国总理安格拉·默克尔(Angela Merkel)领导的基民党(Christian Democrats)与主要反对党社会民主党(Social Democrats)在解决欧元区债务危机方面几乎没有政策分歧，此前各方在9月22日大选到来之前谨慎地避开这个话题。

But an attempt this week by Peer Steinbrück, the underdog SPD candidate hoping to unseat Ms Merkel, to turn the spotlight on the government’s silence on the subject, appeared to loosen Mr Sch?uble’s tongue.

但希望把默克尔赶下台、不被看好的德国社民党候选人佩尔·施泰因布吕克(Peer Steinbrück)本周试图让人们关注德国政府在这个话题上的沉默。此举似乎让朔伊布勒开了口。

“There will have to be another programme in Greece,” in order to help the country “get over the hill” of debt financing that it still faces, Mr Sch?uble said at a campaign event near the northern port of Hamburg.

朔伊布勒在北部港口汉堡的一个竞选活动上表示，“希腊肯定会出现另一轮（纾困）计划，”以帮助这个国家“越过”其仍然面临的债务融资的“高山”。

A €3bn-€4bn financing gap became evident in Greece’s second €172bn bailout earlier in the summer, but officials had sought to play down the shortfall.

今夏早些时候，在针对希腊的1720亿欧元的第二轮纾困中，30亿至40亿欧元的融资缺口变得明显，但官员们此前试图对此轻描淡写。

The unofficial vow of silence by German politicians on how to plug the gap has also been largely observed by Greece’s other international lenders ahead of the poll, for fear of triggering a public backlash in Germany.

大选前，希腊的其他国际贷款方也基本上在配合德国政治人士在如何填补这一缺口的问题上的非正式沉默，以防在德国引发公众抗议。