No Bailout for Europe

Early in the day, German Chanellor Angela Merkel decisively shut down the possibility of a multibillion dollar bailout for eastern Europe at an European Union summit. With eastern Europe nearing financial ruin, many have looked to Germany, home to Europe's largest economy, for leadership and a bailout. But today Merkel said "you cannot compare" the hardships of individual European nations with one another, and that a large-scale multi-national bailout would be unwise. Hungary's Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany says his nation is crumbling and needs up to 190 billion euros ($241 billion) to restore eastern Europe's sinking banks. The nine eastern nations seeking help are Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, and "three Baltic states" according to the Associated Press. At the end of the day, EU officials told the press that the nations in question had changed their minds and that the EU had collectively decided the bailout was not for them.