hardball #2
イギリスのメイ首相は同国のEU離脱の是非を問うために6月8日に解散総選挙を実施することを明らかにしました。解散総選挙は議会にはすでに承認されております。選挙の結果によってはメイ首相は辞任する可能性もあり、ある意味掛けですが，国民の信任を得られればEU離脱交渉を行うにあたって追い風となります。
記事の中で気になった単語は"hardball"です。『Wisdom英和辞典第三版』（三省堂）を調べると「〘米〙(ソフトボールに対して) 野球, play hardball〘米･くだけて〙 強硬手段をとる」などという意味がありました。今回は"play"という動詞は使われておりませんが、後者の強硬手段をとるという意味合いで使われております。(Ume)
General election: MPs ready to approve snap poll on 8 June
Senior government sources point to a specific factor that changed the prime minister's calculation on an early election.
The end of the likely tortuous Article 50 negotiations is a hard deadline set for March 2019.
Under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, that's when the Tories would be starting to prepare for a general election the following year, with what one cabinet minister described as certain "political needs".
In other words, the government would be exposed to hardball from the EU because ministers would be desperate to avoid accepting anything that would be politically unpopular, or hold the Brexit process up, at the start of a crucial election cycle.
Ministers say that's the central reason for Mrs May's change of heart because "if there was an election in three years, we'd be up against the clock".
