World and National News

New episode in the folder Veolia Environnement. Its CEO since late 2009 Antoine Frérot, is on trial. Borloo could indeed take control group of utilities and largest private employer in France. According to Les Echos, hostilities between the former boss of Veolia now head of EDF, and the runner Proglio Antoine Frérot, could be decided during the next meeting of the Board scheduled on February 29. Following this meeting promises to be choppy, several administrators of the group would seek a dismissal of the CEO. Conducted by a sling Proglio which intends to show that he still holds the strings of the group he led for many Annes before moving to EDF. According to Liberation, Proglio have discussed the ouster of Mr. Frérot with Nicolas Sarkozy on February 12 when the two men met to discuss the rescue by EDF of Photowatt.

Besides that of former Minister of Ecology Jean-Louis Borloo, several names would be approached to head the former Generale des Eaux: Augustin de Romanet, CEO of the Caisse des Depots, "but whose entourage denied any contact, "according to Les Echos, Jacques Veyrat, the former head of Louis Dreyfus and Daniel Bouton, former CEO of Societe Generale.

Results and share price at half-mast

The plummeting stock market as Veolia, which has lost nearly 60% of its value in one year, and the two profit warnings passed successively by the group that should show a loss of 200 million for fiscal 2011, according Challenges, feed the sling administrators.  

For its part, Borloo does not dispute some meetings with "people of Veolia," said Liberation. The newspaper said that "at least five members of the board, fully identified, reportedly met Borloo, Thursday and Friday." And the applicant further states that the daily Veolia is "a company that I know well as a former minister. They have problems and if I believe what is said, there are a number of shareholders who think the group needs a class to his head. " The question is whether Borloo could be this character. For now, the former minister is cautious and says that "the only thing I can say is that now I am driven by two major international groups that are not Veolia. And contacts with them are very advanced. "  

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"Kleftes! Thieves! "The insults burst forth in the processions of anti-austerity protesters in the streets of Athens these days. The Greeks win against a political class accused of making no sacrifice while officials have seen their wages blend of 20% and expects the same treatment as private sector employees. MPs in particular are accused of refusing to lower their pay by 10% at the height of the crisis in 2011.

"Until now, politicians have not been transparent about their incomes and citizens suspect that considerable sums are spent for miscellaneous expenses, or that MPs employ family members as assistants," says Nick Malkoutzis a, journalist with the daily Kathimerini.

The Easter bonus deleted

MEPs, however, made a few sacrifices. The 13th and 14th month salaries were eliminated, as in the rest of the civil service in 2010. Last July, the attendance fee paid for participation in a meeting of the 34 parliamentary committees was reduced to 150 euros, against 245 euros before. Premiums Easter, Christmas and holidays have been removed, additional taxes created. These measures have melted the monthly salary of 3375 euros per head on average, according to elected officials.

Parliament said today that the gross monthly salary now stands at 8,221 euros, 4,231 euros after taxes. Are aligned with the highest salaries of public service. In comparison, a French MEP wins 5189.17 euros net. Still, the Greek Parliament plans to spend 34.2 million euros in 2012 for salaries, including bonuses and other compensation. What assure members a sum of 9500 euros per month, plus office and secretarial included.

The difference, ultimately, does not seem huge with the situation before rigor sets. Last December, Parliament has in fact published on its website, for a few days, the tax returns for 2009 of 300 MPs. It was to answer charges of opacity.

Income gaps

Salaries, allowances, current accounts, real estate, and other financial transactions in this document. It shows that in 2009, elected a ten won more than 9,000 euros per month through its sole parliamentary activity. What must be added, for some, a second salary (in Greece, one elected is entitled to retain his original job posting) as well as income potential spouse. Then the gaps widen between the richer members of the assembly (six of them earned more than 33,000 euros per month) and more modest, saying some 2,025 euros monthly income for their household.

"While the debate on the wages of 300 Deputies Greek is symbolic. They represent only three thousandths of the state budget. But the political class has missed the opportunity to cut its own salaries along with those officials, two years ago, analyzing the Greek-Swiss historian Nikolas Bloudanis. It would have been a symbolic gesture extremely important. "Times are changing: this week, for the first time, an elected, Dora Bakoyannis, head of the small liberal party New Democracy (four members), has proposed halving the salaries of parliamentarians .

How much do Greek political leaders

George Papandreou. Photo credits: JOHN KOLESIDIS / REUTERS

The pub, some question its effectiveness. No jurors Effie Award, which annually recognizes the most effective campaigns. The 28 award-winning devices (11 Effie gold, 11 silver and 6 bronze) for the eighteenth edition are no exception to the rule.And they are all the more commendable that they worked at a time when every dollar invested in communications account, and that, at the same time, the level of phobia is high.

While creative advertising agencies are competing for the creative awards (Cannes Lions, Art Directors Club …), the trading them, and their advertising clients prefer to get a price Effie, synonymous with effectiveness measured, proven and proven to a jury of twenty professionals (advertisers, agencies, media, research institutes), chaired this year by the president of Ipsos, Didier Truchot.

For the first time in its history, the awards reward campaign B to B (that is to say for professionals) conducted by the agency Leg (Havas) to SFR.

Estoppel to potential buyers of SeaFrance. The Commercial Court of Paris on Monday gave the liquidation of the French company SeaFrance ferries in the Channel, but now the activity until January 28, 2012. The court found that the two takeover bids submitted by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA), associated with the Danish DFDS group, and the CFDT union in the enterprise, were not satisfactory as it stands. However, he left the door open for the submission of new offers before December 12.

SeaFrance employs 880 permanent employees and 200 CDD, according seasons. The plan proposed by the LDA-tandem DFDS provided for the protection of 460 FTE jobs, maintaining SeaFrance under the French flag, the recovery of three ships 5 million and an investment of 50 million for repairs to boats.

The appointment of the new Italian Prime Minister, the respected economist Mario Monti, seems to reassure the markets. After last night the appointment of a successor to Silvio Berlusconi, the euro recovers against the greenback and the yen. Early Monday morning, it is 1.3770 dollar and 106.29 yen against 105.97 yen and 1.3739 dollar on Friday night. This change in the executive in Italy, and one that took place in Greece, revived the hopes of ending the crisis in the euro area and reinforce the mood of the Asian indices, sharply higher this morning.

The comments made yesterday by the new Italian government attempted to reassure people, but realistic. On the occasion of a brief statement to the press, the former European Commissioner said that Italy could "win" the debt crisis through a "collective effort" payday loans no teletrack.Mario Monti also found that Italy, a founding member of the European Union, would be "an element of strength, not weakness." Thus, he said, the objective of the new government will "clean up the financial position and resume the path of growth in a context of increased attention to social justice." Meanwhile, the Italian Senate passed this weekend the anti-crisis plan promised the European Union.

Mario Monti had to race to form a new government as soon as possible, within ten days. From last night, the new head of state has initiated consultations to obtain a broad political consensus.

This morning, the Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA) summoned the three news channels continuously BFM TV, iTV and LCI for a wake-up call muscular. The subject? These chains have gone far beyond the time allowed the Socialist Party (PS) during the primaries. The rule of speaking time issued by the CSA requires TV stations to give the parliamentary opposition (PS), a talk time of 50% that of the majority bloc. Settlement takes place on three months of information for newspapers and magazines for six months of information.

However, the CSA noted that the period from 1 July to 30 September, the news channel did not respect this balance on newspapers for information."ITV has given the opposition parliamentary speaking time 146% higher than that of the majority, BFMTV gave 142% and 130% LCI! Unheard of at this level "protests Christine Kelly, a member of the CSA in charge of the case. "The time allowed to PS was significantly exceeded" acknowledges CEO Guillaume Dubois BFMTV. "We have given priority to the information. Now the case has raised the antenna DSK in July and August, the Senate elections and primaries PS mobilized in September. We invited representatives of the majority but they decided to be discreet "defends Guillaume Dubois. "It's not the fault of having warned replies Christine Kelly. I have met for the first time in July and I have warned against a possible slip of the Senate and the primary "

Tomorrow morning, the CSA will meet in plenary session.Constable Audiovisual could decide on a formal channels of information. "It's a yellow card. But if they start, then the CSA will release a red card and take sanctions "warns Christine Kelly, a member of the CSA.

However, the CSA notes that most other television and radio all have fully complied with the instructions. On the side of France Televisions, which also broadcast the primaries in two news magazines, the balance was followed. Information for newspapers, counters ended September 30 show that the parliamentary opposition bloc has 51% of speaking time points Thierry Thuillier, the Director of Information of France Televisions.The new review period from 1 October to 31 December, France Televisions ensure balance time for the presidential majority, including calling Francois Fillon to 20 hours of JT France 2 tonight.

For news magazines, France Televisions has until Dec. 31 to offset the 4:45 discussion devoted to the primaries. Already Alain Juppe had been invited for two hours in the program "The words and actions" on September 30. Tonight, the program "Crossword" lasting 80 minutes will receive a majority of three personalities: Lionel Luca, Chantal Jouanno and Herve Morin. Finally, France Television is negotiating for an intervention of Nicolas Sarkozy on October 24.In this case, if the head of state talking about the crisis of the euro or Greek debt, his time is not counted, however if he talks about domestic policy, then the speaking time will be taken into account.

This is the new fad on the web. Vestiairedecopines.com is the top site that enables passionate fashion to sell part of their wardrobe to help buy other items. This site, created two years ago, has already brought together a community of 600,000 members connected in a vast social network.

Today, advised by Clipperton Finance, the site raises 7.5 million euros to the U.S. investment fund and its shareholders Balderton Ventech history. This capital value to the site between 20 and 25 million euros. On that occasion, Bernard Liautaud, a partner at Balderton Capital and former founder and CEO of Business Objects, will join the board of vestiairedecopines.com to advise the company in its international expansion.

"Vestiairedecopines.com experiencing very strong growth driven by the community.On the site, we selected 45,000 articles fashion products, clothes, shoes, shoes, accessories are discussed live by the community before being purchased. When we receive the product, we inspect its condition before shipping to the buyer. Nearly 200,000 items were circulated in 2011, representing between 350 and 400 orders per day package. Our business volume in 2010 represented 3.3 million and we expect to increase this volume by 4 in 2011 to 12 million and it should still be multiplied by 3 in 2012, "explains Sébastien Fabre, co-founder of the site and CEO.

If the site is also available in French, the community, it is already international in 17%.Mainly British and Germans who come to the French fashion articles and advice from members.

Britain and Germany

Vestiairedecopines.com is going to quickly open a site in English and in German by the end of the year, while centralizing the packages still in France. In the longer term, the site will address the United States by implanting a logistics service. But before considering expansion abroad, it will have to change its name, is certainly very vestiairedecopines.com French, it is unpronounceable in English!

The U.S. stock markets, continue to fall on Friday. The Dow Jones was down 0.55% at 10,680 points and the Nasdaq 100 lost 0.06% in 2454 symbolically points. The markets are still haunted by the fear of a recession in the U.S. and the crisis of public debts. Wall Street tumbled Thursday was at the end. The Dow Jones ends with a fall of more than 3%.

In an attempt to stop the stock market crash, the finance ministers and central bankers of the twenty leading economies gathered in Washington last Thursday pledged to provide "a strong and coordinated international response" to the crisis at a meeting in Washington. In a joint statement, they agreed to ensure that "banks have adequate capital" and promised to provide "the necessary liquidity" to financial institutions.But for specialists Aurel BGC, "the real decisions are referred to the Summit of Heads of State and Government to be held in Cannes, 3 and 4 November."

The Perfect Storm, the large emerging group of "Bric" were "determined to accelerate structural reforms to sustain strong growth." Brazil, Russia, India and China but also South Africa so consider "if necessary, to provide support through the IMF or other international financial institutions, to address the current challenges facing the global financial stability, according to the circumstances of each country. "The inventor of the BRIC, Jim O'Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said however that emerging markets are likely to require at least, in exchange for their support, greater clarity on how the Europe has to solve its crisis.

Gloomy outlook for world trade

In response to a request by the G20 in September addressed to Nicolas Sarkozy, the countries of the euro area have also promised to implement "necessary measures to increase the flexibility of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF)" to avoid contagion from the crisis in Greece. Yesterday, the possibility of a defect in Athens, though long ruled by EU leaders, was raised by Klaas Knot, Member of the Board of Governors of the European Central Bank (ECB)."This is one of the scenarios," he told the Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad.

The specter of a global recession has suddenly resurfaced after the ads pessimistic U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed), which held that the U.S. economic recovery was "slow" and threatened by "high risk". Wednesday she has decided to sell by the end of June 2012 for $ 400 billion of treasury bills and to purchase for the same amount with a longer maturity.But the fact that it favors measures to monetary easing, a depressed market on Thursday, who sees as a sign of impotence.

New signs of abating, the World Trade Organization (WTO) revised downwards its forecast for this Friday trade growth for 2011, expecting growth of world trade by 5.8% against 6.5% forecast so far, according to its website.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro climbed slightly against the U.S. dollar: it rose on Friday by 0.57% to 1.3533 dollar. Oil prices also went up.A barrel of "light sweet crude" for delivery in November, which had tumbled more than $ 5 the day before returning 1% by mid-morning at 81.31 dollars.

The side of values, after the close of the NYSE YorkHewlett-Packard announced the replacement of Leo Apotheker as CEO from Meg Whitman, confirming the many rumors that had circulated in recent days.

At Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is Rick Bergman Devices, responsible for products, who announced his resignation. The CEO will temporarily Rory Read office.

Covidien raised its quarterly dividend 12.5% ​​to 0.225 dollar per share.And, for its part McDonald's has increased its 15% to $ 0.7 per share.

In order to treat its shareholders well, Raytheon has authorized a stock repurchase plan of $ 2 billion.

The American manufacturer of sporting Nike has exceeded market expectations by posting yesterday after the close of U.S. markets net income for the first quarter of fiscal year up 15% to $ 645 million, driven by its Sales in North America and in emerging countries. Revenues rose 11% to $ 6.1 billion.Orders scheduled for delivery between September 2011 and January 2012 were up 16% to $ 8.5 billion.

On the occasion of a major overhaul of its website, Facebooks'est services associated with music, news and video, including Spotify, Deezer and Dailymotion, and challenge from Apple in the content.

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Concerns about the health of the U.S. economy may once again to weigh on the markets in Paris. In the wake of Wall Street the day before and Asian stock markets this morning, the CAC 40 lost more than 4% to 2815 points, having already fallen by 1.6% at its previous meeting. Same trend in other European stock exchanges: the London FTSE-100 lost 2.5% to 5150.06 points, the FTSE Mib in Milan, 2.43% to 13,776 points, the Dax in Frankfurt at 3.24% 5257 points, and the Ibex 35 in Madrid, 2.80% to 7980 points.

Market sanction and the decision of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) on Wednesday. In fact, the Central Bank of the United States announced new measures to support the U.S. economy.It will sell well here in late June 2012 for $ 400 billion of treasury bills and short-term buy for the same amount with a longer maturity in an attempt to lower interest rates in the long term (an "Operation Twist"). To support the mortgage market, it will also acquire real estate securities without increasing the size of its portfolio, according to the Committee.

IMF worried about global growth

However, markets did not appreciate his verdict on the economy, noting the "continuing weakness" of the labor market, with an unemployment rate of "high" of 9.1%, coupled with "significant risks "related" tensions in global financial markets. ""The opinion of the Fed on the economy is deteriorating a lot and it seems it can not do much with the Republicans (he) asked not to intervene," says Yutaka Miura, analyst at house brokerage Mizuho Securities, the Dow Jones Newswires.

Thus, the market had expected better, especially after worrying about the International Monetary Fund. The day before, the institution headed by Christine did not hesitate to raise the specter of a global recession and launched at policy makers in the world "a fervent call to action". At the same time the institution has significantly downgraded its growth forecasts for the global economy. This is expected to grow 4% in 2011 as in 2012, 0.5 points below its previous forecast of 4.5% last April.

Beijing sees its manufacturing activity deteriorated

To this must be added the emergence of concerns about the economic situation in China. Manufacturing activity in the country has deteriorated in September, reaching its lowest level in two months, according to preliminary PMI bank HSBC said on Thursday. PMI Purchasing Managers calculated by HSBC in September reached 49.4 against 49.9 in August, knowing that a figure below 50 means contraction. "We are seeing a moderation in growth as in the past two months.Fears of a hard landing for the Chinese economy are unjustified, "said in a note Qu Hongbin, the chief economist for China at the bank.

In France, the growth of private sector activity in France in September fell to its lowest level since the beginning of the recovery in 2009, the PMI "flash" in the manufacturing sector fell to 47.3 against 49.1 in August.

In Germany, the composite PMI, which includes industry and services, stood at 50.8, its lowest level since July 2009 against 51.3 in August.

In addition, investors are increasingly worried about the evolution of the crisis of public finances in Europe. Greece announced Wednesday its intention to launch new austerity measures to convince the Troika and obtain payment of a new tranche of 8 billion euros in October that will allow it to avoid bankruptcy.

On the foreign exchange market, the dollar was up against the euro. It was worth 1.3544 dollars per euro, against $ 1.37 the day before in Asia. Oil falls as himself down under the effect of a rise in the dollar and pessimistic forecasts from the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) for the world's largest economy.In early electronic trading, a barrel of "light sweet crude" for October delivery gave up $ 1.21 to 84.71 dollars per barrel of Brent North Sea crude for October delivery lost $ 1.26 to 109, $ 10.

In the U.S., the weekly claims for unemployment benefits will be unveiled at 14.30, and the composite indicator of economic activity for the month of August in 16 hours.

Earlier this afternoon, the markets also expect the statements of Robert Zoellick and Christine Lagarde, respectively president of the World Bank and IMF Executive Director, at the opening of the annual meetings in Washington

Values ​​to follow

• Banking

BNP Paribas (-2.09% to 23.94 euros), which saw its share price unscrew more than 50% in three months, may request assistance to private investors understood the Financial Times.Analysts said that the institution may seek to raise up to EUR 2 billion from investors from Qatar and Abu Dhabi. However, an assumption that sweeps by the Director General of the bank Baudoin Prot. Investors also will keep an eye on Societe Generale (-4.76% to 16.12 euros) and Credit Agricole (-1.14% to 4.61 euros).

• Saint-Gobain (-2.98% to 28.67 euros)

The group has conducted Wednesday through placement of a bond issue in two tranches for a total of 1.75 billion euros with an average maturity close to six years and an average coupon of almost 4% in the refinancing of debt specialist construction materials. The transaction was heavily oversubscribed as the order book has reached the aggregate for the two tranches over seven billion from nearly 400 investors.

• Danone (-1.98% to 43.02 euros)

The company launched its next bond issue of € 500 million due 2016.

• BioAlliance (-5.65% to 3.17 euros)

The group announced Wednesday the confirmation of the clinical trial schedule Livatag against the primary liver cancer, starting with the pivotal Phase III in 2012. The company also reported a residual income of 1.02 million euros in the first half.

LE FIGARO – You met President Nicolas Sarkozy Friday. What is your analysis of the crisis in the euro area?

Pedro Passos Coelho – Our views are converging. We must accelerate the process of ratifying the plan in July that the EU speaks with one voice. It is essential to avoid systemic risk. How to convince the markets where European leaders expressed doubts on the future of Europe! It must be absolutely avoided, it is better to be silent than to sow doubt.

Would it be better to organize the failure of Greece?

I refuse to make predictions, I'd rather be patient and hope that Athens takes its objectives and carry out sustainable reforms. If Greece dark, the entire EU to be at risk.We need to help Greece and at the same time strengthen the EU, to establish a more integrated economic government which deals with taxation.

What are the consequences in Portugal of the deepening crisis in Greece?

Portugal is in a vulnerable position vis-à-vis Greece. If the crisis worsens, it will make our recovery process more difficult. My vision is very pragmatic: we must make every effort to carry out reforms and fiscal consolidation.

Economists doubt your ability to meet commitments on fiscal 2011?

The aid package was negotiated before the elections. Since then we have taken additional steps preventive and our calendar of spending cuts is more ambitious. We have the political support for it.We will keep the target of 5.9% of GDP deficit in 2011 and are targeting a primary surplus (excluding debt service) in 2012 for a balanced budget in 2015 and an external account deficit by half a point against 9% last year. In addition to the expenditure side and the privatization plan, we will conduct several structural reforms, justice, labor market, too rigid regulation. We will create a board of public finances, which will be independent to ensure full transparency in the management of the state.

Where are you from privatization?

We are to remove the golden shares held by the state in public enterprises, then we will begin the process of privatization in the energy sector by mid-November, by selling the companies for electricity, gas and oil, which Galp.We will then proceed to the privatization of the airline TAP, the airport manager Ana, mail, freight rail and radio station public television RTP. The whole process should be finalized in late 2012, the objective to recover at least 7 billion euros.

Have you received expressions of investors?

Yes, many, from the European economies but also emerging countries, Brazil, China and several Arab countries easy payday loans.The president of the National Bank of Economic Development in Brazil (BNDSE), the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, Lula and his predecessor have already come to us with investor interest in Brazil.

This interest is there also for the government debt?

The purchase of public debt is subject to specific rules, but the important thing is that there were demonstrations of confidence in this government about the quality of Portuguese debt.

Will you create a wealth tax, such as Spain prepares to do?

We refused this solution, not to discourage large fortunes to come and settle in Portugal. However, we have created a special tax of solidarity that will help tackle the portion of 2.5% marginal tax on income that will affect higher wages and will last two years.We also created an additional tax of 3% on business profits in excess of 1.5 million euros, also for two years. The purpose of these taxes is not to create an additional revenue but to allow us to finance social assistance measures for families hit hardest by the crisis.

What are these measures?

They are primarily related to housing. Households that can no longer repay their debts to buy their apartments can contact their bank for the loan to be converted into low-rent, which will relieve the financially while allowing them to remain at home. Similarly, those earning up to one and a half times the minimum wage benefit from using public transport.In addition, if we were forced to raise to 23% VAT on gas and electricity, we have created a social tariff for the poorest.

How to boost growth given that domestic demand will remain very low?

It is true that the austerity has a recessive effect. The middle class will suffer significant sacrifices. That's the ticket out of the crisis, the price of a country that has spent too long. Domestic demand will have a negative contribution to the end of 2012. This will be offset by exports that are doing well. The adjustment must be done very quickly to ensure the financing of the economy. Privatization are important to increase the availability of cash to help recapitalize banks. This will improve competitiveness, greater openness and internationalization of our economy.The State abound 12 billion euros in guarantees for banks.

Competitiveness remains the weak point of Portugal?

Hence the urgent need to launch structural reforms, which should have been done in conjunction with the entry into the EU. The country in several sectors – textiles, information technology, biotechnology … the high performers.