The paper adopts a long-term view to interpret the broadening of the core-periphery divide in Europe. We analyse the change of the German economic model and its repercussions on the European peripheries, starting from the analysis of the interweaving between globalization and europeinization. The focus is on two engines: financialisation (Krippner, 2011) and hierarchical reorganisation of the European industrial structure (Simonazzi et al 2013).  We argue that the transition to a depoliticised management based on the automatism of rules (Burnham 2001), the financialization of the economy, and the slow- down of capital accumulation have resulted in an increasing fragmentation between and within the core and peripheries of Europe.