The euro kinda destroyed southern Europe's economies
The Euro kinda destroyed Southern Europe's economies
The reason is that if you have big differences in wealth/income between two areas like North/West Europe and South Europe
Then with separate currencies that would automatically stabilize each other
For example: imagine Italy did not have the Euro, and there is low demand for Italian goods, so there is low demand for the Italian currency, that means the Italian currency will decrease in value compared to other currencies, that makes Italy CHEAPER for non-Italian people and companies
That in turn can make Italian products/services cheaper and lower prices (for foreign companies/ppl) increases demand (eg increased demand for cheap products or tourism)
That in turn increases the demand for Italian currency long term and it stabilizes
None of that can happen with the Euro
Instead what happens is that Italy stays relatively expensive (they can't change their currency cuz it's Euro) and Germany stays relatively cheap (they benefit staying cheap)
Without the Euro, German products/services would be way more expensive internationally, and Italian would be cheap internationally
So North/West Europe benefits from South Europe suffering cause of the Euro, kinda
It's not the whole story why Southern Europe suffers economically but part of it
That's maybe also why EU sends so much money to Southern Europe to keep them in the EU cause they know the Euro is a bad deal for them but they don't want them to leave
P.S. I like the Euro but things like this are real but never discussed
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