Part 2/9:
The journey of these economies hasn’t been smooth sailing. For decades, Southern Europe has struggled with lower productivity and GDP per capita compared to their Northern European counterparts, such as Germany. The situation worsened during the Eurozone crisis, where many of these nations accumulated significant debts. The introduction of the Euro facilitated easier borrowing, which unfortunately led to a financial spiral. For instance, over a span from 1999 to 2007, Portugal's debt-to-GDP ratio surged from 50% to 70%, with Greece failing to reduce its own debt burden, hovering close to 100% of its GDP during the 2000s.