Euro-sclerosis and a crippling malaise

I'm going to take a stab at this. I'm not sure what Eurozone context is...
Sclerosis is a disease. The calcifying or hardening of something. Malaise is a general lack of spunk, vigor, a depression, feeling out of sorts. For Europe, the patient diagnosed with a fatal disease, the prognosis wasn't good. Instead the patient healed and prevailed.
According to what you've posted here, against predictions of doom and gloom, a continent with no hope, diseased and tired, Europe was not only able to overcome these hurdles and but was able to surpass them.

in the 80's it was claimed that " europe was finished " - " crippled and shrivelled " .
but it seems that europe recovered reasonably well - that's about all anyone can say for sure .

The economic fortunes of Europe as a whole, as well the economic fortunes of individual nations, waxed and waned more dramatically than the fortunes of the US during the second half of the 20th C.

Now, I read this perhaps as long ago as 15 years, so do not ask for a citation, but, I did once read that France fared better during the First Depression than other industrialized nations. The writer said the Depression both began later and was never as severe and credited France's relatively small population as a reason why. The writer felt that fewer people meant greater economic flexibility. The other thing that comes to mind in re: France between the wars is that French agriculture was strong and there was a food surplus. It sounds like a small population and a strong food supply chain are important keys to a sound economy that might be examined in light of today's world.