In German financial Handelsblatt, “After decades of surpluses, Germany imported more than it exported in May”, in “a historic reversal”.
It was partly due to the value of gas purchases from Russia, which jumped 55%, but there was also “a surprising drop in exports” and companies “already see the German business model at risk”.
The Wall Street Journal highlighted it as “Germany’s first deficit in more than three decades” and citing not just Russia but China. “The outlook for exports is weakening.”
Speaking to German magazine Der Spiegel, the president of VW warned against political moves to now decouple the country from China, arguing that “inflation would rise much more” and the growth and employment picture would be “completely different”.
As for Russian gas, according to Handelsblatt, some companies “may switch to oil or coal”, but “most are preparing to stop production” (pictured above). Highlights Basf, “the world’s largest chemical group”, which announced that it would close its biggest complex if the supply drops by 50%.
Also the president of the German trade union central DGB, speaking to the tabloid Bild, sees “whole sectors at risk of permanent collapse, aluminium, glass, chemical industry, with consequences for the whole economy and jobs”.
At the same time, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung questions billionaire spending to build at least four liquefied gas terminals to receive the alternative product to Russian, largely imported from the US.
“In five to ten years, they will no longer be needed”, says the newspaper, adding that demand from industrialized countries, led by Germany, “is draining the market, with a lot of money”, and is already threatening the supply of gas to the emerging.
At the top of the American Bloomberg, at the end of the day, “Gas soars 700%, becoming the driving force in the new Cold War”.
EX-NAZIST
Center-right German FAZ made headlines on Tuesday for an interview with Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Melnyk, who is due to leave Berlin at the end of the year — after praising Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, saying there was no proof of that he massacred Poles and Jews.
The governments of Poland and Israel have questioned Melnyk, but his departure “will not be a demotion”, says the FAZ. On the contrary, Zelensky should make him Ukrainian Vice Chancellor.
For the newspaper, Bandera “is not a suitable symbol” for the country, but “Melnyk’s comments should give Germans reason to reflect on Ukraine’s difficult history”.
‘ORAL QUESTIONS’
Boris Johnson’s apparent endgame, with ministers demanding moral standards, was preceded by what the New York Times reported as “Missing text sends London media in an uproar”, about an article hastily deleted by the Times two weeks ago.
Writing about the missing story, Private Eye magazine (above) details that Johnson and his then-lover, now a woman, were allegedly spotted by a lawmaker in “oral matters” on the “office couch” at 10 Downing Street.
