Europe Muddle Thickens as Doubts Persist Leaders Can Stem Crisis

“To put it bluntly: we’re not going to pay,” the German chancellor said.

That threat didn’t come from Angela Merkel, besieged from all sides to save Europe from an avalanche of debt. It was a rare outburst from her pro-European predecessor, Helmut Kohl, against calls that Germany plow more into the common European budget in 1998.