The two shocks that hit France and Italy when they joined the euro zone

The weakness of the French and, even more so, Italian economies since both countries joined the euro zone can be explained by two shocks that hit them upon their entry : The need to comply with the budgetary constraints, which led to an increase in the tax burden and weakened the economy (in Italy, corporate investment due to the increase in the corporate tax burden); The inability to use the exchange rate to correct a cost-competitiveness disadvantage , which entrenched this disadvantage and led to market share losses, both countries hav ing rejected the use of an internal devaluation (a reduction in labour costs).