Germany’s biggest gas importer, Uniper, reported a loss of more than €12bn for the first half of the year, “ranking among the biggest in German corporate history”, said Vanessa Dezem on Bloomberg.
State bailout
In July, the company received a €15bn state bailout, “to prevent its collapse and a possible domino effect in the energy sector”. This week, CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach warned that billions more may be needed.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
EU policymakers have accused the Kremlin “of weaponising energy supplies” to “sow uncertainty across the 27-nation bloc”, said CNBC. Maubach admits to “wishful thinking” at the start of the Ukraine War that Uniper’s partnership with Gazprom, which dates back to the 1970s, would hold firm.
It is now so irretrievably broken that Uniper, whose shares have crashed by 88% this year, is “weighing legal action against Gazprom”, said Reuters. And gas rationing in Germany may be only a matter of time.
Worst yet to come
In closing this vital supply route as a tit-for-tat against Western sanctions, Vladimir Putin “has pre-empted the West and declared an all-out energy war”, said Ben Marlow in The Daily Telegraph. “After a mad scramble to secure supplies”, Europe’s gas storage facilities are almost full.
But officials concede that, without Russian flows, Germany “only has enough gas for two-and-a-half months of demand”. As Uniper’s boss observed at this week’s Gastech conference in Milan: “The worst is yet to come”.
-
Political cartoons for December 6Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include a pardon for Hernandez, word of the year, and more
-
Pakistan: Trump’s ‘favourite field marshal’ takes chargeIn the Spotlight Asim Munir’s control over all three branches of Pakistan’s military gives him ‘sweeping powers’ – and almost unlimited freedom to use them
-
Codeword: December 6, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
Pakistan: Trump’s ‘favourite field marshal’ takes charge
In the Spotlight Asim Munir’s control over all three branches of Pakistan’s military gives him ‘sweeping powers’ – and almost unlimited freedom to use them
-
Pushing for peace: is Trump appeasing Moscow?In Depth European leaders succeeded in bringing themselves in from the cold and softening Moscow’s terms, but Kyiv still faces an unenviable choice
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro behind bars after appeals run outSpeed Read He will serve 27 years in prison
-
The $100mn scandal undermining Volodymyr ZelenskyyIn the Spotlight As Russia continues to vent its military aggression on Ukraine, ‘corruption scandals are weakening the domestic front’
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
-
Massacre in Darfur: the world looked the other wayTalking Point Atrocities in El Fasher follow decades of repression of Sudan’s black African population
-
Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
