When Romano Prodi, generally known as “Mr. Euro,” says that, “Germany won’t sell another Mercedes in Europe,” it is clear that Europe’s “Very Serious People” are beginning to understand than Germany’s policy demands are fundamentally inimical to the continuing existence of the Euro Zone, and perhaps the whole EU:

The plot is thickening fast in Italy. Romano Prodi – Mr Euro himself – is calling for a Latin Front to rise up against Germany and force through a reflation policy before the whole experiment of monetary union spins out of control.

“France, Italy, and Spain should together pound their fists on the table, but they are not doing so because they delude themselves that they can go it alone,” he told Quotidiano Nazionale

Should Germany persist in imposing its contractionary ruin on Europe – “should the euro break apart, with one exchange rate in the North and one in the South”, as he puts it – Germany itself will reap as it has sown. “Their exchange rate will double and they will not sell a single Mercedes in Europe. German industrialists know this but all they manage to secure are slight changes, not enough to end the crisis.”

Professor Prodi is the prime minister who prepared Italy for EMU in the 1990s, and then presided over the launch of the euro as European Commission chief.………

I would note that the German belief in their own inherent virtue and it’s destiny to dominate its neighbors has a very bad history.