RENEE MONTAGNE, host: NPR's business news with growing worries about Europe.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: The euro has fallen more than three cents against the dollar this week after Ireland accepted an international bailout to help cover its massive debt. And now the worry has shifted to Portugal and Spain. European officials insisted today that those countries will not require bailouts and reiterated that there is zero chance that the euro would collapse.</s>RENEE MONTAGNE, host: Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel dismissed the need to increase bailout funds. She was confident that these challenges would strengthen the European Union, she said. That's a much more optimistic note than Merkel struck earlier this week when she described the euro's plight as, quote, "exceptionally serious."
The Euro has fallen more than three cents against the dollar this week, after Ireland accepted an international bailout to help cover its massive debt. And now, the worry has shifted to Portugal and Spain. European officials insisted Friday that those countries will not require a bailout.