In the darkest days of the 2009 recession, Germany’s industrial output was collapsing at an annual rate of more than 20%, a Bloomberg View reported. An unfathomable implosion but one that thankfully ended almost as quickly as it started. Some 10 years on, a crisis is brewing once again in the country’s industrial heartlands. The pain could prove more enduring this time. So far the problems aren’t nearly as acute as in 2009; industrial production fell by a comparatively modest 4.2% in July.

The French government will ask Air France to “take into account” the situation of bankrupt French budget airline Aigle Azur’s 1,150 employees, said a government minister on Monday, Reuters reported. “With the secretary of state for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, we will meet the Air France executives tomorrow and we’ll have the opportunity to ask them to take into account the situation of these employees, pilots included,” Elisabeth Borne, the government minister in charge of both the environment and transport sectors, told RTL radio.

Slovenian airline Adria Airways has filed for bankruptcy and canceled all flights, it said in a statement on Monday, after financial problems forced it to ground most of its planes over the last week, Reuters reported. “Bankruptcy proceedings were initiated by the management of the company because of the company’s insolvency,” Adria, which is owned by German investment firm 4K Invest, said. Adria is the latest in a long line of small European airlines to run into financial trouble amid industry overcapacity, cut-throat competition and high fuel prices.

Air France-KLM boss Ben Smith on Friday defended his decision not to fly to the aid of two collapsed French airlines, and said market consolidation through bankruptcies would eventually benefit the country’s aviation industry and jobs, Reuters reported. Air France last week withdrew a rescue bid for Aigle Azur, which was formally wound down on Friday, and has since rebuffed overtures by XL Airways, another insolvent carrier.

European Central Bank president Mario Draghi has thrown his weight behind French president Emmanuel Macron’s call for fiscal transfers between eurozone member states to bolster the long-term future of the single currency, the Financial Times reported. In an interview with the FT, Mr Draghi said higher government spending was “more urgent than before” to counter the global slowdown. He also said that a long-term commitment to fiscal union was essential for the eurozone to compete with other global powers.

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe was briefed by his officials to warn the new governor of the Central Bank to keep a close eye on costs, according to documents released under freedom-of-information legislation, The Irish Times reported. The warning came in advance of the Minister’s meeting with Gabriel Makhlouf, who paid a two-day visit to Ireland ahead of taking up his role full time on September 1st. “It is understandable that the cost base of the [Central] Bank has risen with the increase in regulatory reach and powers.

Neutrals and fanatics are united by the belief that getting Brexit done will bring an end to the current chaos, The Irish Times reported. Closure is an overused word but it is often deployed by those who are either bored, terrified or angry about Brexit. Even some Remainers now think that a negotiated exit, soon, is the only way to allow the UK to move on. This belief is a dangerous delusion. For all of the understandable fury with the language used this week by Boris Johnson his strategy is logical.

The IMF has urged Greece and its EU partners to agree to ease its fiscal target in order to support the country’s fragile economic recovery and increase social spending, the Financial Times reported. In its annual assessment of the Greek economy the IMF called on Athens and its European partners to “build consensus around a lower primary balance path” for 2020. The IMF’s position contrasts with the stance of the European Commission which argues the high fiscal target is necessary to keep Greece’s debt load sustainable.

A fleet of supercars said to have been seized by the Swiss authorities in a money-laundering investigation from the son of the leader of Equatorial Guinea was auctioned on Sunday in Switzerland, the International New York Times reported. The vehicles were among 25 luxury cars sold for more than $27 million at Bonhams auction house, according to The Associated Press, in what Bonhams called a “very special sale.” Beforehand, the cars had been estimated to bring in more than 12 million euros, or $13 million.

The British government is hiring. Requirements: A candidate who can keep markets calm, put up with criticism from politicians and deftly respond to an unprecedented economic event as Britain tears itself away from the European Union, while the rest of the world economy stutters, the International New York Times reported. Send applications to: Unknown. The person who succeeds Mark Carney as leader of the Bank of England will have to brace for a challenge. When Britain voted to leave the European Union, Mr.