[idont]

Yes and for many reasons: 1.- Some companies or pension funds, etc. only buy AAA products. Without that precious rating you lose potential buyer. 2.- These countries live on debts. Bad rating => higher costs => taxes increases or spending cuts (which is an easy programm these days in Europe ;) ). Note: France is not the US, investors have not the same trust into them. 3.- GDP, jobless rate, export balance, etc: French are out and German are in which will have hugh impacts on the solidarity fund, political credibility, etc. (And remember French are still sensitive about having a Germany not dominating the Europe.)

The worst part is that Germany has kept its AAA. This means that the downgrade does not punish a "European problem" but a "Country problem", and this will have hugh impacts during this election year and for solving the issues in European.