Flip side of Italy’s woes is a German economy with a suspect engine

 The European Central Bank  in Frankfurt, Germany
 The European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany CREDIT: FRANK RUMPENHORST
Last week I wrote about the inter-relationship between Italy’s financial plight and its underlying economic difficulties, now finding expression in its government’s conflict with the EU. It has been told by the EU to come up with a different budget. If its budget isn’t modified, the EU will probably reject it. We shall see if the Italians bend the knee to Brussels.
But the Italian difficulties represent only one side of the euro problem. The flip side is to be seen in Germany and, contrary to popular misconceptions, it isn’t rosy either. On the face of it, Germany is an amazing economic success story. The economy is growing strongly and unemployment is only 3.4pc.
Yet recent German economic performance...

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