It's the bloody euro innit. The whole setup was contrived to benefit a powerhouse economy with a huge manufacturing/export base: Germany. When times are good, fine. When times get hard, wealthy Germany wants to remain immune, but they signed up just like everyone else did. It's incumbent on them, having taken the lion's share of the benefits, to do the lion's share of the baling out. Their present austerity policy is a threat to democracy all over Europe as poorer nations lose control over their own affairs. When things go horribly wrong, and you can't devalue, the abyss threatens.