Download or read book Italy and Germany as Prototypes of the Peripheral and Core Countries in the European Monetary Union written by Nicola Acocella and published by Ethics International Press. This book was released on 24-11-07 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book looks at Italy and Germany as prototypes of the peripheral and core countries in the European Monetary Union (EMU) and examines their respective faults. It also analyses the context of the European Union (EU) institutions, their origin, the forces that drove away from a more balanced or federalist one, and shortcomings. This offers the opportunity to suggest some changes to EU structures, particularly in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. Both Germany, Italy, and other EU countries have violated European rules. However, despite this, the negative performance of the EMU has to be connected to its deflationary and unbalanced institutions. These were driven away from the federalist route that they seemed to be initially following by a Franco-German axis and by a decisive German switch towards a tough monetary regime.