Germany's justice minister is planning a temporary relaxation of insolvency rules to help keep afloat companies that have fundamentally sound business models but are struggling with debts due to high energy costs, he said on Friday, Reuters reported. Marco Buschmann, whose portfolio includes insolvency rules, said his plan would exempt firms from the obligation to file for insolvency if an expert finds they have a "positive going concern prognosis" for four months, down from 12 months now.

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.

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.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck faced a backlash on Wednesday for saying he could imagine parts of the economy stopping production due to rising energy prices that German firms say are threatening their existence, Reuters reported. Asked whether he expected a wave of insolvencies at the end of this winter due to companies' rising energy bills, Habeck said "No, I don't.

A union representing pilots at Lufthansa on Tuesday called off a planned two-day strike after a last-minute agreement with Germany’s biggest airline in a pay dispute, the Associated Press reported. The Vereinigung Cockpit union had announced plans for a walkout on Wednesday and Thursday, calling on the company to make a “serious” offer in talks over pay increases. It would have been the second strike in a week after pilots staged a walkout Friday that led to hundreds of flights being canceled.

Pilots at Lufthansa went on strike on Friday, forcing the German airline to cancel hundreds of flights, stranding holidaymakers, Reuters reported. The airline said that it had cancelled about 800 flights at its main bases in Frankfurt and Munich on Friday, affecting 130,000 passengers, and said it was working flat out to minimise the impact of the strike. Labour union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) had called on more than 5,000 Lufthansa pilots to stage a 24-hour walkout, saying the latest round of wage talks had failed.

German inflation accelerated to the most since the euro was introduced on soaring energy prices, bolstering calls for a jumbo interest-rate increase when the European Central Bank meets next week, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices in Europe’s biggest economy, calculated under European Union harmonized standards, jumped 8.8% from a year ago in August, matching the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts.

German energy giant Uniper SE is seeking to extend a government credit line to 13 billion euros ($13 billion) in the latest sign of how Europe’s energy crisis is getting worse, Bloomberg News reported. The utility has requested an additional 4 billion euros from Germany’s state-owned lender KfW after fully using its existing 9 billion-euro credit line, Uniper said in a statement on Monday. The additional funding request is about double the Dusseldorf-based company’s current market value.

Germany will keep exporting electricity to neighboring France despite calling on people to help fend off winter shortages by saving energy at home, officials said on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Problems at French nuclear plants have driven up electricity prices there in recent months, prompting power companies in neighboring countries to sell excess energy to France. “Only half of France’s nuclear power plants are operating,” said Patrick Graichen, Germany’s deputy economy and energy minister.