The eurozone debt crisis returned with a vengeance on Friday, Jan 13, as Standard & Poor’s, the credit rating agency, downgraded France and Austria – two of the currency zone’s six triple A rated countries – as well as seven nations not in that top tier, among them Italy and Spain, according to Financial Times.

S&P, under political fire since it announced a review or eurozone debt in December, gave 14 of 16 countries – including France, Italy and Spain – a negative outlook, which it said meant a one-in-three chance for each country of a further downgrade this year or next.

The agency downgraded France and Austria by one notch to double A plus, while it cut Italy Spain and Portugal by two notches. Ireland held its rating.

“It is not good news ... but it is not a catastrophe,” said François Baroin, France’s Finance Minister. “It is not the ratings agencies that dictate the policies of France.”

The downgrades reignited fears about the fiscal sustainability of the eurozone and the knock-on effect on its rescue fund, which could now lose its own triple A rating, reducing its firepower or forcing eurozone nations to increase contributions yet again.

S&P said last month’s European Union summit, which saw eurozone leaders agree steps towards fiscal union, had “not produced a breakthrough of sufficient size” to overcome a crisis which had already forced bail-outs of Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

Nonetheless, Germany kept its triple A rating, along with the Netherlands, Finland and Luxembourg. Germany and Slovakia, downgraded from A plus to A, were the only countries who were not deemed in danger of a further downgrade by the end of 2013.