I think Italy’s issues are more to do with its government and corruption than the EU. The EU seems to be working for a lot of the other countries just fine economically.
That’s not to say that people who vote populist don’t have a point. It’s hard to understand why companies are making billions in profits, while people are scrambling to make ends meet.
Unless you are stuck on some axiom that what's good for the companies is good for… humans.
I think it's fairly self evident at this point that you've got people, you've got companies, you've got capitalism as a whole. It's a pecking order and they are somewhat to extremely antagonistic. People, as the most powerless entities in the equation, are very much on the way out.
Humans are to these large collective entities or even larger self-organizing entities like political systems, as cells are to humans. There is no reason to assume a humanocentric viewpoint here, and if assuming one leads to continuous dismay and surprise, you've got to widen your perspective and acknowledge higher-order organisms when they're this obvious.
It's like a sort of Singularity. Why would it be surprising if we fail to immediately recognize it for what it is?
There was a reason those countries had bad rates before joining. And most of the causes of those issues were swept under the rug. Now who is going to pay for the consequences?
But we can't so have to deal with what is in front of us right now.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Monetary_Union
But the levers of political power were, then as now, in hands guided not by stale history, but by fresh opportunity for self-advancement.
Everyone involved.
I assume you mean the Euro here (not the EU)
What are those countries?