Part 7/14:

The European Central Bank (ECB) cannot efficiently manage a currency with such disparate economies. Countries like France struggle with debt levels surpassing 350% of GDP, while stronger nations like Germany maintain much lower ratios. To address debts, the ECB would need to engineer sustained high inflation—something politically unfeasible.

This fiscal dissonance has led to a de facto decentralization of monetary policy. Governments are increasingly instructing banks on lending and guaranteeing risks, leading to what historian Russell Napia terms "financial repression"—a return to directed credit and state-influenced investment. The once-unified eurozone is quietly disintegrating into a collection of sovereign monetary policies, threatening the very foundation of the single currency.