Well, "forced" is probably a bit strong. German manufacturers need markets; Germany "encouraged" the other members of the EU to allow countries like Croatia and Greece to accede, even though they didn't meet the entry requirements.
There are good reasons why the UK declined to join the Euro.
Same happened for other countries accessions. And of coures France and Germany bent the EU budget rules all the time too. Then when things started going poorly in Greece, the gang kicking the fallen guy promptly forgot about this.
(To be clear, many of the rules reflected a irrationally strict anti-debt anti-inflation puritanism to begin with, and the problem was more in the rules than their lack of enforcement)
