Yes; Italy has a lot of industry, especially chemicals. I buy acetal resin in a custom shade of green from there, 2000kg at a time
I think Italy is really what Germany is worried about; Spain a bit less, and the rest much less...
The euro has damaged
everybody down there. Bizzarely, it is currently in Germany's interest for the eurozone to be packed with virtually bankrupt countries, because that keeps the euro weak and enables Germany to export. What Germany doesn't want is a resolution to the crisis, either way. It doesn't want the zone to go actually bankrupt and need bailing out, and likewise it doesn't want the zone to strongly export-recover as that would revalue the euro and make German exports less competitive - as would a shrinkage of the euro to the north only.
450k pilots in the EU? Only if you count kites, MJ, and kitesurfers. The UK has the biggest GA scene, about 20k pilots with valid medicals (CAA figure), along with Germany which is probably similar. France #3, the rest of Europe much less. 450k is nonsense.