You judge Europe as if it's a singular behemothic superstate.
HUH?? I implied nothing of the sort. It's a multi-juristictional bureaucratic nightmare, But which country is in which organization is not really relevant to my point which is that
a monetary union cannot succeed without fiscal and/or political union. I used to think the U.S. Dollar was the worst possible form of currency, marrying fiat with fractional reserve lending, but you Europeans actually surpassed us. You combined the inflationary instability of fiat with the inflexibility of hard currency AND fractional lending. Wow, that's an accomplishment. I mean I know the Euro is nothing like a PM-backed currency, but to member states that need to adjust monetary policy differently, it might as well be.
and the winner is.... german export blitz.
to the german export industry the euro is not a nightmare but a wet dream come true. an economy with such export strength would sooner or later get a stronger currency = higher prices for their goods = less sales. germany is (ab)using the weak PIGS countries as class a weapons in the currency war. it could not work better for them.
all this just to get a giant trade surplus.
Are you insane or just stupid? What good does it do to "sell" exports to people on credit when they default on the credit? How beneficial is it to give your stuff away? A trade surplus just means you're giving more stuff than you're getting. That's BAD not good. A weak currency helps your exporters but hurts you when you have to import the raw materials and energy. It's also terrible for capital formation (savings). There's a name for a condition where everybody works but nobody gets paid. It's called "slavery".