Germany imported goods from Russia valued at 2.9 billion euros ($2.95 billion) in July, according to data released on Monday, as elevated energy costs frustrated German efforts to wind down trade with Russia, Reuters reported. The value of German imports from Russia rose by 10.2% compared to July 2021, the Federal Statistical Office said. The office attributed the surge mainly to higher prices, particularly in the energy sector, as cuts to Russian gas deliveries drive up energy bills for households and businesses in Europe's largest economy.

German pilots at flagship carrier Lufthansa have agreed not to strike until mid-2023 under an initial wage dispute agreement that includes a 980-euro ($998.23) pay rise, both sides said on Monday, Reuters reported. During the truce period, which runs until June 30 next year, the union and the company aim to expand the deal into a broader agreement, Lufthansa said. Under the initial agreement, cockpit crews are to receive an increase in their basic monthly pay of 490 euros each in two stages, with retroactive effect from 1 August 2022, and as of 1 April 2023, VC said.

The governor of the Irish Central Bank has warned the Government that budgetary measures to cushion the impact of inflation need to be temporary and targeted to limit the risk of fueling further price growth, the Irish Times reported. In a pre-budget letter to the Minister for Finance, Gabriel Makhlouf also highlighted the significant budgetary risk posed by corporation tax receipts, suggesting the public finances were now “highly exposed to business decisions of a small number of firms”.

Euro zone finance ministers agreed on Friday to act together to protect households and companies from soaring energy prices, coordinating their support policies with the European Central Bank to avoid adding to inflationary pressures, Reuters reported. The ministers from the 19 euro zone countries agreed support should focus on providing money to help people and industry cope but that this should be regarded as an emergency measure and be carefully targeted where possible. Support for companies should be coordinated across borders to preserve fair competition.

Ukraine’s top Cabinet official panned slow progress from the International Monetary Fund in moving ahead with a new assistance package for the war-torn nation, Bloomberg News reported. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal gave credit to the IMF for its abundant past support of Ukraine, including in 2014-2015 after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula and fomented military conflict in the country’s east.

Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles on Friday approved a $700 million financing package for SAS AB from Apollo Global Management, though he said features of the deal concern him, Bloomberg News reported. The financing, divided into two $350 million draws, will allow Apollo to convert the debt into stock in the bankrupt airline or participate in an equity raise tied to SAS’s eventual exit from chapter 11 protection under certain circumstances. Judge Wiles called the financing “unusual” and questioned whether it was legally viable.

French power distributor Electricite de Strasbourg SA oversold large quantities of electricity due to trading errors earlier this week, a mistake that could cost the company 60 million euros ($60.3 million). The utility’s ES Energies Strasbourg unit made quantity errors on transactions on Tuesday and Wednesday amounting to 2.03 gigawatts and 5.75 gigawatts of electricity, the company said in a statement.

The European Central Bank said it would raise its key interest rate by 0.75 percentage point, the biggest increase since the early days of Europe’s monetary union, moving aggressively to combat record inflation even as an energy crisis puts Europe on the brink of recession, the Wall Street Journal reported. The bank said in a statement that it would increase its key rate to 0.75% from zero—its second hike this year following a 50-basis-point rise in July—and signaled that further rises were likely this year.

A Swiss court has granted the operating company for the never-opened Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was built to bring Russian gas to Germany but put on ice shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine, a four-month extension to its “stay of bankruptcy,” the Associated Press reported. The stay for Nord Stream 2 AG was extended from Sept. 10 through Jan. 10 by a regional court in Zug canton (state), according to a notice published Thursday in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce. The company, a subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom, is based in Zug.

Newly installed U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss told Parliament on Wednesday that she would tackle Britain’s “very serious” energy crisis while still slashing taxes, ruling out imposing a windfall levy on oil companies to pay for her plans to offset the soaring cost of heating and electricity, the Associated Press reported. Truss rebuffed opposition calls for a new windfall tax, even as she refrained from explaining how she would fund a plan meant to help the public pay energy bills skyrocketing because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the economic aftershocks of COVID-19 and Brexit.