> The idea being, why would Italy, France and Greece agree to open their market and give up their currencies (ie ability to devalue) in the face of the German juggernaut?
Because they couldn’t manage their currencies and always dreamt of low inflation, in a few words: they wanted the Mark. Calling it Mark would have upset the nationalists, so they made the Euro.
> The Euro zone was a mistake.
Outside of the eurozone, Italy would have gone bankrupt in the mid 2000s, Greece a few years later.
Because they couldn’t manage their currencies and always dreamt of low inflation, in a few words: they wanted the Mark. Calling it Mark would have upset the nationalists, so they made the Euro.
> The Euro zone was a mistake.
Outside of the eurozone, Italy would have gone bankrupt in the mid 2000s, Greece a few years later.