The euro does not have to die. Italy and Germany do not need to withdraw. There is another option. National currencies could be reinstated alongside the euro. It would become a parallel common currency not a single currency. It was widely suggested when John Major proposed this in 1990 that the Bundesbank opposed the idea largely because they saw it as the only practical route to a European currency and thought that by blocking the idea they would prevent monetary union. They must be really regretting that tactic now.
