>> The un-competitiveness of the south was subsidized by the EU for decades And one way of subsidizing them was through Euro currency. Bonds of Italy, Greece,

>> The un-competitiveness of the south was subsidized by the EU for decades And one way of subsidizing them was through Euro currency. Bonds of Italy, Greece, Spain, etc. had lower interest rates in Euro that they would have if they were in their own currencies. Many financial institutions had just blindly been buying them as "EU bonds", without paying much attention which country they came from.