AHC: Rome as center of European Power

[Incognito]

There is little doubt that currently Germany is the most influential nation in the European Union. The challenge here is with a post-WW2 POD to have Italy and not Germany become the “power house” of European Union by 2012.

[Laplace's Demon]

Germany is divided into 3 states instead of 2 after WWII, and instead of corruption-enabling conspiracies in the Gladio and Masonic mold, Italy ends up like OTL South Korea, with an anti-communist military dictator that pragmatically leavens free markets with strict protectionism of key industries and strict control over precious foreign exchange as to be able to use it all on importing the machinery needed to develop those industries, first hitting the consumer-good hungry (thanks to the protectionism and control of foreign exchange) domestic market, allowing them to grow into international competitors.

Also, maybe Vichy neutrality being respected and no auto-liberation of Paris by the Free French allows a Allied occupation authority over liberated France to crackdown on the communists while largely allowing the catholic right to remain, leading to less popular secularism in France and a stronger cultural tie between Italy and France by way of the Vatican.

Or, given the opportunity I guess a dictator DeGaulle and his Christian Democrats combined with a military dictator in Italy would mean the Franco-Italian partnership instead of the Franco-German partnership would be the basis of the European Community.

[Enigmajones]

Rome is the headquarters of what America ends up referring to as the European Treaty Organization, but what is better known as the Rome Pact in my timeline.