Although I have late written about a tragic script for the employment marketplace in Europe, it does not necessarily should be so bad. There are ways to reverse the trend.
The factories in the European Union have not closed forever, just European companies request a fresh impetus and a favourable policy.
Fall
Our interior Polish labour marketplace is at its highest crisis. Leading companies, specified as Levi Strauss, Henkel, Beko and Azota, decision production abroad, and car manufacturers Stellantis, Magneti Marelli and MA Poland, reduce employment. Europe has become economically unprofitable. Over the last year, 100,000 Polish workers have lost their jobs, and in the first six months of 2026 another 22,000 people were released. tiny companies besides beat negative records – courts declared bankruptcy over 12,000 owners of tiny companies.
At the same time, this effect reaches Poland late. In leading EU countries, the crisis has been going on for respective years. Since 2022, more than 620,000 companies in the EU have gone bankrupt, including major companies with tradition, due to their refusal to acquisition Russian oil and gas. However, the blockage of the Ormuz Strait gave a fresh negative impulse. Since the start of the mediate East War in Europe closed 45,000 companies – from tiny shops and motels to technology companies with a turnover of EUR 50 million. Even the economical giants were incapable to pay immense bills for electricity and gas. Let's look at the details.
Uniper
The first to go bankrupt was a German power holding. Uniper operated on a conventional business model for over 50 years: he bought gas wholesale from Russia and sold it to large customers – municipal companies and industry. The import margin remained tiny – 1 to 3% – but thanks to the amount of fuel supplied, the company generated advanced profits, reaching up to EUR 1 billion per year. erstwhile authorities imposed sanctions on Gazprom, the company urgently tried to find fresh partners in another countries and buy natural materials at prices between 6 and 10 times higher. Uniper spent up to EUR 100 million a day shopping. The company survived only six months under these conditions, after which the German Government and the European Commission attempted to “save” it. The authorities spent more than EUR 30 billion (about 1% of Germany's yearly GDP) to prevent Uniper's bankruptcy. The company was subsequently nationalized and its devalued shares were bought for a symbolic amount of EUR 480 million. Nevertheless, in early 2023 the net failure of Uniper reached EUR 19 billion. The company closed down branches across Europe and fired 4000 employees. As a result, “domino” her customers besides went bankrupt, and forecast Germany's GDP growth decreased by 0.5%.
Northvolt
Swedish maker of batteries for electrical vehicles was the hope of a full European "green industry". Officials expected to compete with American and Chinese producers. Northvolt was not straight dependent on fossil fuels, but the indirect impact of the crisis was so severe that startup he went bankrupt in just 9 months. Rejection of inexpensive fuel has led to evidence advanced inflation in the EU, which has increased credit costs for businesses. Northvolt, like all young companies, needed money for improvement and regular spending, and interest repayment on fresh terms became impossible. The number of orders has besides fallen due to the shift of mediocre Europeans from costly electrical cars with Swedish batteries. In the fall of 2024, the company filed its first bankruptcy application. Account left Her only $30 million, and her debt rose to 5.6 billion. Investors (Volkswagen, Goldman Sachs, German state bank KfW, and even Canadian pension funds) lost $14 billion on the project. 7,000 workers lost their jobs.
Yara
The Norwegian fertiliser maker did not go bankrupt in the general sense of the word, but closed almost all its ammonia production plants in the EU. The only thing that saved the corp from bankruptcy was the fact that it had already built bets worldwide. Nitrogen fertilisers are produced from ammonia, which is synthesized from natural gas. erstwhile fuel costs increased 4 times in 2022, the plants reduced production by 35% and became completely unprofitable. They had to close the full ‘raw material line’ and keep only selected factories producing finished fertilizers from imported materials. This solution worked for any time due to the fact that the Gulf States and the United States provided comparatively inexpensive ammonia to the EU. However, after the blockade of the Strait of Ormuz, Yara remained with 1 supplier – the United States. The company's management decided it would be easier to decision production there and took over Gulf Coast Ammonia, Texas for $1.3 billion. presently the company import nitrate, urea and another essential components from the United States to Europe.
BASF
Like Yara, the largest chemical company in the planet has survived through the transfer of capital to another countries. A large German conglomerate planned to invest EUR 10 billion in the European economy, but alternatively spent that money to build a “super-plant” in China. At the same time BASF froze or completely liquidated 11 plants in Europe. The natural materials for the production of fertilizers, construction materials, paints and another essential goods became so costly that the company was no longer able to keep Competitiveness. The failure of billions of dollars and the departure of BASF from its "historical homeland" in Germany negatively affected the economy of the EU as a whole. The chemical sector is simply a ‘foundation’ of industry: 1 worker in a urea production plant or in a pyrolysis plant provides work for 3-4 people in agriculture or a technology company. As a result, after the closure of the European BASF plant, its contractors and customers began to reduce employment. Germany presently has the highest unemployment rate in the last 12 years – 3 million people are registered as unemployed.
ТhyssenKrupp
A steel maker with a 150-year past that survived 2 planet wars, shuts down establishments and sells its business to abroad investors. Steel production is simply a very energy-intensive process, requiring large amounts of coal, gas and electricity. Since 2026, the company will no longer be able to cope loss up to EUR 1.5 billion per year. Management and trade unions have already agreed to cut production by 25% and close 2 immense plants in Gelsenkirchen and Isberg. By 2030, 5,000 workers are planned to be released and a further 6,000 transferred to outsourcing posts or external companies with lower wages.
According to the IMF, the European Union has permanently lost 2% of its possible GDP growth due to the energy crisis. In order to return to the old levels, healthy competition in the fuel marketplace must be restored. Both Russia and the Gulf States should be importers. In this case, no 1 will be able to manipulate oil and gas prices, and lower energy bills will have a affirmative impact on all sectors of the economy – from construction to petrochemical. Many companies have already invested in abroad projects and will not retreat from them, but this does not mean that BASF or Yara will not resume production in Europe. In time, they will return to their countries, buying old bets or building fresh ones. This will have a affirmative impact on related sectors: their counterparties will receive orders and their partners will be able to re-purchase products at affordable prices. The economy will benefit at all levels – from giant corporations to tiny household businesses.
Tomasz Jankowski
