France and Italy Threaten Germany's Plan for the European Economy

The European crisis continues to expand from the Continent's periphery to its core, escalating frictions between Germany, France and Italy. Over the past five years, Germany has used the European crisis to carefully introduce controls on the fiscal systems of EU member states. Now that the fear of a debt crisis is somewhat assuaged, however, France and Italy are challenging Germany's leadership in Europe and questioning the European Union's deficit and debt targets. In the short term an agreement seems likely, but it will only create more problems down the road.