Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade nine EU countries' credit ratings last week will worsen the EU's debt crisis in the long run, Nordic bank Nordea said Monday.

"The downgrades confirm our assessment that the crisis will get worse, before it gets better," Nordea said in a memo.

S&P on Friday downgraded credit ratings of nine out of 17 eurozone countries, including France which lost its AAA sovereign debt rating at S&P's for the first time since 1975.

Nordea said that the downgrades would not have much short-term impact on financial markets, as the agency had already warned of the downgrade on Dec. 5, 2011, allowing the markets time to adjust.

In the long run, however, the downgrading could have much more worrying effects as it could hurt consumer and business confidence, and force the European Central Bank to cut interest rates even further, the memo read.

"Whether the downgrades have put such a development in motion, will only first be known in a few months time... That is, unless market movements lead to a lowering of interest rates even earlier," it added.

Denmark and its Nordic neighbors Finland, Norway and Sweden have so far retained their AAA rating, but remained vulnerable to negative developments in the EU.

Finland is a euro zone country, and is directly exposed to the EU debt crisis and weaknesses in the euro common currency.

Denmark's currency, the krone, is tied to the euro, while Sweden's currency, the krona, is free floating. Both economies are strongly dependent on exports to EU markets, making their exporters vulnerable to slumps in EU demands.