Isolation fears push outsiders to embrace euro zone

„Hungary sent 54 percent of its exports to the euro zone in the first nine months of this year, while in the Czech Republic, that reached 66 percent, according to EU data. Eastern Europe is also increasingly exposed to the debt crisis. The Czech crown, the Hungarian forint and the Polish zloty suffered sharp falls in value in November, when traders took a closer look at the impact of the euro zone crisis on their economies. Even Denmark, which is not obliged to join the euro through an opt-out it negotiated in 1992, says its open economy could be affected by common euro-zone budget and tax rules.

»These are smaller nations that are cautious about big power politics inside the EU and who favored treaty change, but I think what persuaded them was that something needed to be done«, said Fredrik Erixon, a director of the Brussels-based European Centre for International Political Economy. Still, joining a currency area that is fraught with huge debts, a dramatic rise in borrowing costs and the possibility that it may break up altogether is freezing their plans to join.

Poland will probably meet the EU's economic targets set for entering the euro zone by late 2015. But despite increasingly close ties to Germany and a strong desire to join the euro zone, Warsaw says it cannot do so at such an uncertain time. Hungary's Economy Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy signaled this month another delay from earlier indications for euro entry, saying the country will probably join after 2020. The Czechs dropped their 2010 entry target and have not set a new one.”