With the looming risk that one of the Eastern European countries that got hit real bad in the crisis could go bankrupt there is speculation that it could bring down the whole EU with it. Should one in the east fall it would mean that some country in the west would take a huge hit in owed debt. That could be the start of a whole EU break up as nations try to figure out how to deal with all the bad debt. That would cause an instability in the Euro which would further hinder many nations that would already be suffering.