Now even the government of China -- not exactly known as a caring mother to her family of 1.3 billion -- is warning its people from seeking work in Eastern Europe.

Chinese workers should avoid going to Romania, Ukraine or Poland, a statement placed on a government Web site said. Because of the financial crisis, they may end up not getting paid or even suffer rights violations in these countries, Beijing warned.

Romania, which received a $20 billion aid package from the International Monetary Fund, has become the third new EU member to be bailed out, following aid money for Hungary and Latvia.

Ukraine is virtually bankrupt and -- as some say -- beyond the point of having the option to be saved by aid packages.

Poland still expects to see its economy grow by 1 percent in 2009, but the stability of the economy there is depending on the zloty, which has lost more than a quarter of its value since the beginning of the crisis.

In most countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the financial fallout has stopped or even reversed what once was strong economic growth.

Countries there are export-driven, and they sell their goods mainly to the eurozone. Yet as economies in Western Europe are weakening, demand for goods from Eastern Europe has been dropping. Many countries there are ill-equipped to handle even short-term market breaks because their industrial and commercial value chains are relatively new and fragile.

In Eastern Europe, stock markets are crashing, jobs are being lost, and currencies are falling. This sends countries into an almost unstoppable downward spiral because economic growth there has been fueled with euros from Western European banks -- interests that are getting more expensive by the day.

The economic woes have now resulted in widespread political instability, with two heads of state sacked in four days.

On Tuesday Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek lost a no-confidence vote that leaves the country with a government without support in times of crisis.

Two days earlier, Ferenc Gyurcsany, the Hungarian prime minister, stepped down because there was virtually zero backing for his crisis management.

Last month the government in Latvia stepped down when an economic slump sparked public unrest in the country, with demonstrations turning violent.

This development has not yet reached its end, observers say.

The next country that looks likely to need foreign cash to survive is Lithuania -- and this could mean that another government will have to take its hat.

Neighboring Estonia has boomed in recent years, but its economy may shrink by as much as 7 percent. If unemployment shoots through the roof, then public unrest and a change in government could be the results, observers say.

It remains unsure how the European Union will react to this most recent development.

Brussels recently decided to double to $68 billion the size of its emergency fund for European nations outside the eurozone, yet Germany opposed calls by Hungary for an additional rescue fund for heavily indebted countries in Eastern Europe.

However, it is clear that the Eastern European woes need to be addressed. For one, because western European nations, including Germany, export heavily to Eastern Europe, aiding these countries is somewhat of a self-help exercise, experts say. And secondly, because the political instability sowed there has already reached the western part of the continent.

Near Edinburgh, Scotland, unidentified individuals damaged the home of the former head of the Bank of Scotland, and in Paris, hundreds of employees of German car-parts maker Continental protested against the closure of a French plant, chanting, waving flags and burning tires.

Topolanek's demise is terrible news for the EU as a whole, for the Czech Republic currently holds the 27-member body's rotating presidency.

Topolanek recently lashed out at U.S. President Obama's financial stimulus package, calling it a "way to hell" that will "undermine the stability of the global financial market."

It's a view not shared by many inside the EU, and Topolanek is giving a rather embarrassing performance as the European president, a role he will hold when attending next week's crucial Group of 20 meeting in London, which is aimed at dealing with -- you may have guessed it -- the financial crisis.

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