Gemany's Day X is here to stay

Germany's Day X is here to stay

Everybody was making contingency plans for Day X, the day when gas supplies coming from the Russian Federation were going to cut off and such day arrived when the Russian Federation responding to those who were threatening the Russian Federation with the suspension of gas imports decided to do the deed itself and leave Germany and other countries without gas and this was bound to happen.

Western Germany - we continue talking about Western Germany because the hopes brought by the Fall of the Berlin Wall in terms of economic leveling of East Germany with West Germany were quickly wiped out - is suffering the consequences. More than ever before, Germany will have to rely on coal thus defeating plans presumably designed to protect the environment and CO2 levels. But there is more than that because one German company in particular was using Russian gas to produce battery cases for electric cars and even making train clutch systems. Of course the company representative chose to remain anonymous because he did not want to be seen as supporting the Russian Federation. Having said that, the prospect for the said Germany company is closure leading to unemployment. Let us remember than 55% per cent of the gas used in Germany was coming from the Russian Federation. The damage done to the Germany economy and the erosion of German political stability might not be a price worth paying.

What is coming is a chain reaction in a country in which companies big and small are interlinked. This is the domino effect. Bayer, Basf and Thyssenkrupp are vulnerable and practically every area of industrial activity will be damaged including construction material, pesticides, synthetics, packaging, disinfectants, the producion of drugs for medical use such as antibiotics, vaccines and cancer drugs. Nickel and aluminium come to a great extent from the Russian Federation.

And what happens to hospitals, emergency services and medical manufacturers despite the fact that they will be treated as priorities. Companies are being forced to demonstrate that they deserve to be treated as priorities and those involved in glass manufacturing are an example of what could happen. If production comes to a halt, the nature of the production process will mean that machines could be terminally damaged when liquids settle inside the machines.

If supply chains collapse, already affected by the paralysis generated by lockdown measures during the Covid pandemic, the outcome will be bankruptcies and mass unemployment. Some talk about a recession that will be worse than any of the recessions Germany has faced until now. Do you know what this means?