The Euro is a boat anchor that ties (throttles) the German economy to the rest of Europe. The original idea was that Germany would pull the other economies to greater heights, however the various finance ministries in "lesser Europe" saw the opportunity to make high stakes gambles confident that Germany (and to a lesser extent France) would pull their chestnuts out of the fire, if it backfired. The problem is that too many countries (Iceland, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal) are over exposed and therefore are dragging all of Europe down, rather than just their countries.
For a good read on what happened in Ireland (and good explanation of Ireland's options, including a re-valuation, aka screw-your-neighbors), read
When the Luck of the Irish Ran Out . Should be in your library (That's where I got it from to read.)