This book analyzes the main factors characterizing the evolution of the Italian economy in the European Union (EU) and in the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) during the last decade. The book aims at showing that the European responses to the pandemic crisis are centered on a main objective: to implement the conditions for an EU development based on the single market and characterized by technical and organizational innovations and a social and environmental sustainability. These conditions require that the main European countries, Italy included, reach a sufficient degree of convergence; and this requirement represents an extraordinary opportunity for the Italian economy.