If, as seems likely, the sanctions dispute with the U.S. were to escalate, those would be the countries with the most to lose because alternative markets for $300 billion of their export sales might not be readily available.

Still, it is important to keep those events in the proper perspective.

At the moment, the euro area economy is doing well. The current growth dynamics are keeping demand and output moving forward at twice the speed of the system's estimated potential and noninflationary growth. Apart from that, the fiscal and monetary policies have plenty of room to support economic activity and employment creation.

A 2.3 percent average annual growth in the first two quarters of this year is way above the euro area's estimated growth potential of 1.2 percent. In other words, the economy is hitting beyond the physical limits to growth that are set by the stock and quality of the human and physical capital, and are roughly approximated by the sum of the growth rates of productivity and labor supply.

So, if you want to keep the score, chalk that strong euro area growth up to the European Central Bank. Against all the odds — such as Germany's systematic opposition to monetary accommodation and Berlin's unrelenting pressure for a pro-cyclical fiscal austerity — the ECB managed to pull the euro area out of a deep recession and to set it on a path of accelerating economic activity.

And, in case of need, that steady growth momentum can be further — and safely — underpinned by fiscal and monetary policies.

On the fiscal side, Germany and the Netherlands, the two largest budget surplus countries, have plenty of room to expand domestic demand, and to allow their euro partners to sell more goods and services. That would support growth in the euro area and reduce the depressive impact of excessive German and Dutch trade surpluses — 8 percent and 10 percent of GDP, respectively — on the rest of the monetary union.