Germany's energy intensive industrial sector continues to shrink
Here's the chart. The blue line is total industrial production, the red line is the energy intensive industrial production:
Some specific sectors like chemical production, are at a 26-year low.
The problem is energy costs. Cheap Russian gas is no longer available, and Germany is importing more expensive liquefied natural gas from Qatar. All in all, energy costs in Germany are five times that of energy in the USA, making some industries unviable.
And yet, there are solutions if the EU is willing to take a more pragmatic approach.
For example, there is a giant gas field in Groningen in the Netherlands. Gas production was stopped in 2022 because locals were complaining of earthquakes.
It shouldn't have been beyond the ability of the EU to compensate those residents in return for the gas to continue to be extracted. Even if they gave them all a cash lump sum worth half the value of their house (with residents still living in and ownng their homes), it would be cheaper than letting Germany deindustrialise.
The other option is fracking for oil and gas in the relatively uninhabited rural areas of countries like Poland. Unfortunately, the EU seems allergic to the idea of fracking.
So the deindustrialisation will continue till voters lose their temper and express their feelings at the next elections.