I was going to make a point about what the article itself, and many other articles on the PIIGS have missed, but your question presents a more specific opportunity.
The article states: "Less competitive nations such as Greece suffer particularly from sharing a currency with highly productive nations such as Germany, because it takes away the option of using currency depreciation to make one’s exports more attractive on world markets.
This is true, but consider that much of the economy of the PIIGS, particularly Italy, Spain and Greece, is based on tourism. The "capital investment" for Italy's major tourist economy is the beauty, climate and ancient structures of the country, not primarily machinery as in Germany. Tourists are not an export, so just as "currency depreciation" ("depreciation" from a German economic perspective) makes one's exports more attractive for Germany, France and other more industrial countries, the Euro is "currency appreciation" from the PIIGS perspective, thus making their countries less attractive to tourism. If Italy still had the Lira, the Lira-USD rate would no doubt spur greater tourism and higher employment and revenue for Italy (as would be the case with other tourist oriented PIIGS.
I often wonder why Italy, for instance, doesn't make a greater issue of this problem. My best conclusion is that the Italian politicians from the industrial north, i.e. Milan, Turin are in control. (If so, no wonder Italy is having north-south issues.)
Excellent points. The difference in cost between visiting some countries now vs. back before the EU is profound. I couldn’t believe just how big a difference. This definitely hurts countries with high tourism, and probably also increases the costs of their exports.