The European XFEL will operate nominally at 17.5 GeV in SP (short pulse) mode
with 0.65 ms long bunch train and 10 Hz repetition rate. A possible upgrade of
the linac to CW (continuous wave) or LP (long pulse) modes with a corresponding
reduction of electron beam energy is under discussion since many years. Recent
successes in the dedicated R&D program allow to forecast a technical
feasibility of such an upgrade in the foreseeable future. One of the challenges
is to provide sub-Angstrom FEL operation in CW and LP modes. In this paper we
perform a preliminary analysis of a possible operation of the European XFEL in
the hard X-ray regime in CW and LP modes with the energies of 7 GeV and 10 GeV,
respectively. We consider lasing in the baseline XFEL undulator as well as in a
new undulator with a reduced period. We show that, with reasonable requirements
on electron beam quality, lasing on the fundamental will be possible in
sub-Angstrom regime. As an option for generation of brilliant photon beams at
short wavelengths we also consider harmonic lasing that has recently attracted
a significant attention