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In Frankfurt as in Hollywood, blockbusters at the box office still have a following. With its new Governor Mario Draghi at the wand, the European Central Bank (ECB) had a box in rooms (market) on December 21, proposing to banks in the euro area loans to three years paid at the rate of favorable 1%: some 523 banks had then drew 489 billion euros to the general treasurer. The central bank on Wednesday repeated with a second offer of funding under the same conditions.

As in December, the operation on tap the ECB had passed almost unnoticed, as this new album monopolizes attention. Meanwhile, in effect, operators have discovered the virtues of this infusion of cash, which "played a crucial stabilizing effect on financial markets in the euro area," said the rating agency Fitch.

How? By reversing the downward spiral that led states and banks in the southern countries of Europe towards the precipice. In addition to the invoice Greek tensions on sovereign debt Italy and Spain have indeed weakened the banks of these countries throughout 2011, boomerang-feeding fears about these states, leaving the specter of a rescue banking. The risk that France has to support its banking system has also weighed in the loss of AAA inflicted mid-January by the rating agency Standard & Poor's.

By flooding the banking system liquidity in the medium term, the ECB has caused a twofold benefit: one, the risk of going off the road an Italian or Spanish bank has moved away and two, these institutions are now able to support States by buying their sovereign debt. Hence the almost universal relief: relaxation rates on sovereign debt Italian or Spanish, rising stock markets, banks' resumption of emission payday advance… No wonder investors want more. How many banks ask they this time? Estimates vary between 200 billion and 1000 billion. With the idea that the higher the amount, the higher the markets will appreciate, because these are all new cash should get involved.

Virility contest

This vision reflects the optimism that blows from the beginning of the year. Not long ago, a massive use of banks to the ECB could have been perceived as a sign of weakness. Joseph Ackermann, head of Deutsche Bank, had also launched the controversy earlier this month stating that he had not presented to the Frankfurt office, wanting to avoid wearing the marks of a "subsidy". Mario Draghi had then replied that it was not "a contest of manhood." For his part, Stuart Gulliver, head of the rich British HSBC, said Monday that he had participated in "solidarity with the euro area". This positive attitude could help widen the circle. According to Oddo Asset Management, the euro zone banks must repay 813 billion worth of loans between 2012 and 2013, of which 270 billion solely for the German banks that had shunned the first wave.

Ultimately, the success of the program seems indisputable Draghi markets. This was an essential prerequisite to avoid chaos. The question is how these banks will inject money into the economy.

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Barracks, land, old prisons, offices, mansions, forest houses, homes: the state gives each year hundreds of properties it no longer use. These sales it earned 590 million last year. This policy will continue. The State expects to sell 1,870 properties in 2012, 2013 and 2014, for 2.2 billion euros. And everywhere in France (see map).

If sales have accelerated since 2007 (2.8 billion in revenue since then, against 1.8 billion from 2002 to 2006), this is a result of the restructuring of the state initiated by Nicolas Sarkozy. Especially at regional and departmental services of various departments were grouped into two or three entities. Enough free space over the years. The merger of Taxation and Treasury Bercy has the same effect, as the consolidation of the judicial and military maps.

However, over 85% of the gains from these sales were used to renovate or construct public buildings. Only the balance, under 15, reduced the state debt. Playing rules will change, however. Starting this year, 20% of sales (excluding Ministry of Defence in particular) will go to debt reduction. The proportion will reach 30% in 2014.

Another downside: it is often other public, and especially the municipalities, who acquire the assets transferred by the State. Of Commons that value then the operation. Example: the city of Versailles, through the establishment of public land Yvelines, bought at the army barracks in 2011 Pawn in Versailles. The city will create on the site of activity areas and housing. The subject has also become political, presidential forces. Francois Hollande suggested that the state sells its land free of charge to municipalities so that they will develop social housing. Nicolas Sarkozy denies the charge assignment and advocates an acceleration of land sales.

Foreign investors

In Paris, foreign investors are also part. Thus, the former headquarters of Météo France, near the Eiffel Tower, was sold for sixty million to the Russian state, which will build an Orthodox cathedral. Yves Deniaud, UMP deputy chairman of the Real Estate Council of State, has openly on the Qataris, the Russians and Chinese to buy four mansions for sale in the seventh arrondissement. Individuals who are interested in goods, cheaper, in the province can learn about the site of France Field (www2.budget.gouv.fr/cessions) listing properties for sale.  

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"Dividend pay" or "exceptional bonus"? At the end of March, employees of the SNCF, will receive a nice bonus, the maximum amount, determined on the basis of seniority in the firm, reach 400 euros. The amount far exceeds that of 76 euros seen last year by the railroad.

Yet it gives rise to a real battle between railway union. On the one hand, the CFDT calls this premium "wage dividend" as a just retribution for "efforts" and it echoes the "record dividend" of € 221 million paid by SNCF to the State under fiscal 2011. "The CFDT and UNSA have successfully negotiated for its amount is reassessed, insists Tosolini Fabian, of the CFDT-railroaders. The rate was revised upwards through discussions with management. While we regret the randomness of its payment, we think this is good news for rail workers. "

The CGT, however, has no words strong enough to evoke what she prefers to call a "gratuity", "wage dividend" is a word "willfully misleading" and "can not exist in a public company," ensures the CGT. Above all, it is "funded by the job cuts, deteriorating living conditions and working railway, the extreme pressure on wages, the brake on career paths and declining social rights".

It is true that the CGT launched a strike notice for the day of 29 February on employment, wages and improved working conditions. The premium of 400 euros fell ill five days before the big day

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It is a repudiation for the Competition Authority. The institution, which had inflicted 385 million euro fine in September 2010 with the main banks operating in France on their pricing of check processing, has seen its decision questioned by the Court of Appeal of Paris. In a ruling Thursday, the latter took the view that in this case, "the grievances of Understanding (…) can not be accepted" and that the banks concerned "should therefore be exonerated ".

The case dates back to the early 2000s, when banks have embarked on the computerization of processing checks. They are then granted to establish interchange fees, naturally passed on to end customers.

Fines must be repaid to banks

Banks have justified the introduction of these fees, which were abolished in 2007, the cost that they accounted for the modernization effort of check processing. One argument considered to be unfounded by corporate treasurers, who saw the impact fees.

In September 2010, the Competition Authority found in favor of the latter, and denounced an agreement on final prices payday loans in one hour. A vision not shared by the Court of Appeal of Paris, sought by banks complained, BPCE, Post Bank, BNP-Paribas, the National Confederation of Credit Mutuel, Crédit Agricole, Crédit du Nord, CIC, LCL HSBC France, Societe Generale.

In its reasoning, it considers that the commissions were "directly related to the new system paperless exchange of checks, public interest project neutral in terms of competition law …". It also believes that the Bank Agreement does not constitute "an agreement on final prices."

The Competition Authority may lodge an appeal. When asked, a spokesman said the institution consider what action would give the matter. Fines paid to the Treasury must be repaid to the banks.  

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"Whatever the horizon, the sun is unavoidable in our energy mix, as well prepared." Consultant with the firm Kurt Salmon, Celine Alléaume strongly believes in developing the sector in France and its performance on international markets, provided a policy and regulatory framework more stable and certainly more readable. A few weeks before elections, the firm Kurt Salmon and the think-tank France Monday Territory Solar publish the first edition of the Observatory for solar photovoltaics.

"This is an evolving tool, which will be updated and expanded every quarter. Relying on public data, our goal is to provide clear indicators that help to objectify the debate, "said Celine Alléaume.

The photovoltaic park remains marginal

The main finding of the observatory is hardly conducive to optimism: over the last two years, the French photovoltaic park has certainly developed to exceed the 2300-megawatt (MW) combined-connected power, but it remains marginal while digging its lag behind the most advanced countries. "The residential market, initial engine market and generates employment, came into decay since the moratorium of 2 December 2010. Other markets may follow the same trend in the next two years, "says this inaugural edition. According to several players, more than half the jobs in the sector (about 25,000 at the origin) have been destroyed over the past year.

For Celine Alléaume, the goal of the Grenelle Environment -5 gigawatts by 2020 – is already obsolete: "Other countries are growing so fast that the target should be revised upwards. If the government maintains, the French industry will not find that more difficult to place in world markets. Today, we talk a lot of sun in France but its weight is insignificant (0.29% of electricity production in 2011). "

Celine Alléaume still puts forward the statistics of the American NGO Pew Charitable Trust to attest to the weakness of the French position: "On some 56 billion invested in small solar projects in 2010, France has only counted a little over 3 billion. Similarly, while more than 22 GW were installed in Germany until 2011, our country has only one just over 2.5 GW. "Under these conditions, the whole" animation "of one sector and sectors that remains to be clarified: positioning research, choice of technology marketing, distribution of roles and responsibilities across the value chain

.

Will it towards a form of judicial dismissals as it once existed an administrative authorization? The high courts have recently banned two French companies to implement a social plan. The reason is simple. These two companies, and Vivéo Sodimedical, loss of competitiveness in the domestic market belong to foreign groups financially healthy and judges have ruled on the lack of economic rationale to implement a social plan. Decisions since confirmed by the appellate courts of Paris and Reims.

"This is a first," protested Nicolas Sauvage, member of Avosial, the influential lawyers' union in labor law, which has just sent a letter to presidential candidates asking them to "take a stand" on the issue. A first for three reasons. "Not only is there no provision in the Labor Code which allows a judge to conclude, before a social plan is triggered, the lack of economic rationale and cancel it in stride, but it intrudes more and doing it in company management, which is prohibited by the Civil Code, "argues Nicolas Sauvage.

The lawyer also notes that only the employment tribunals may cancel an ex post social – and not, ex ante, the high court – because of the absence or insufficiency of rehabilitation measures put in implemented. And therefore condemn the offending companies to pay damages as compensation.

To him, the danger is all the more important that the Social Chamber of the Supreme Court, whose judgments regularly give a cold sweat at all DRH de France, is a crucial hearing next Tuesday in the case Vivéo cash advance. His judgment will be delivered mid-March. After being bought by a competitor in 2010, this French software for bank trading rooms wanted to restructure to cope with the collapse of its activity after the crisis. But as he belongs to a German group to blooming health, the Court of Appeal of Paris has forbidden, while no departure had yet been reached.

Question attractive

According Avosial, confirmation of this judgment to the Supreme Court would create "a huge uncertainty for employers, small or large groups, French or foreign." It would encourage companies to "wait to be on the brink rather than anticipating the tough decisions" that may require the use of downsizing for a company to remain competitive. "The vast majority of restructuring is to sustain an activity and not to make profits to increase capitalization," argues Nicolas Sauvage.

Such confirmation could also be opened "the door to the prohibition of dismissal in France" and harm "to the attractiveness of France and its ability to retain or create jobs," says Nicolas Sauvage.

Also addresses the presidential candidates, Avosial hope that the Supreme Court will recall a fundamental principle of French law which states that there is' no nullity without text. " Verdict in less than one month.

White smoke comes not yet held Monday in Brussels, where a decisive meeting of the Eurogroup on Greece. It comes from the Italian Presidency in Rome, and the headquarters of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.

After a phone conversation with Angela Merkel and Prime Minister of Greece Lucas Papademos, Friday, Mario Monti issued a statement encouraging: "At the end of this conversation, which came in the details and which was conducted in a constructive spirit, three participants were confident that an agreement on Greece can be reached Monday, the Eurogroup. "

So far, mistrust prevailed. Especially since the previous Eurogroup, on Greece, was canceled Wednesday. "This time, an agreement is likely," said Jean Pisani-Ferry, director of the Bruegel think-tank in Brussels. "Otherwise it's too late, there will master more technical details …", he adds.

The challenge of this size Eurogroup is: give Greece its private creditors and the green light to launch the second bailout of Greece, estimated at 130 billion euros, to avoid a default in Greek debt falls from 14.5 billion euros on March 20.

That Greece is committed to the reforms demanded by the troika, beyond the April elections, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands had planned mid-week to split the bailout to not pay, firstly, that the sum needed to rescue private, or 30 billion euros. 

Exchange of debt

But this scenario is complicated, difficult to read for the markets, has been criticized by the IMF and European lawyers, who see it as a source of additional blocking with private creditors, asked to relinquish 70% of the value of their securities. "This option is no longer on the table," said Deputy German Finance Minister, Thomas Steffen. "We are ready to have a solid basis for a decision Monday," says the German Finance Ministry in Berlin.

The European Central Bank has brought his stone to an eventual agreement. Its chairman, Mario Draghi, submitted Thursday night, the vote of the Governors, the exchange of 50 billion euros of Greek bonds, which should allow eventually to redistribute 12 billion euros to Greece, which allocated to debt repayment countries. For its part, the IMF would be willing to contribute to the new rescue plan by a loan of 13 billion euros, reported last night the Wall Street Journal on its website.

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After many twists and turns, Greece is on track to reach agreement with its private and public creditors on Monday. After Jean-Claude Juncker, the leader of the euro area, which showed his confidence on the outcome of the meeting scheduled for Monday, it was the turn of the Spokesman of the Greek government to report his optimism.

Pantelis Kapsis estimated that his country has "the green light of the Eurogroup on Monday to continue the proceedings". In fact, the latter confirmed that Athens would have found a way to fill the gap of 325 million euros in the 2012 budget, the last condition set by the Troika (the IMF, the ECB and the European Union) to unlock loan of EUR 130 billion and run the erase operation 100 billion of securities held by private creditors. According to Greek media, these savings would come from additional cuts in special pay schemes public service, drop some special pensions and declining defense budget and pharmaceutical expenditure.

Moreover, the European Central Bank and central banks of euro area countries have initiated the exchange of Greek bonds in their possession against others, to generate capital gains that should ultimately benefit in Athens, according information reported by the German daily Die Welt guaranteed payday loans.

The markets also seem to believe that an agreement will be reached Monday. This morning, the stock markets in Asia are well oriented, driven by good statistics in the United States but also by the hope that agreement will soon be born. U.S. markets ended Thursday's session at their highest level since May 2008.

But Greece could agree to pay this price. The release of the necessary loan of 130 billion euros would indeed be conditioned to a wider public audit of the country. The agreement would include the creation of an escrow account which would contain sufficient funds to repay the debts of the country over the next twelve months. Moreover, Athens would complete a list of "24 priority actions" before the end of the month and before the release of the famous loan of the Troika, says the Financial Times.

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Nicolas Dupont-Aignan pulls no punches. "EU leaders are economic criminals" who are trying to rush the Greek people in a "total chaos," he said Wednesday, during the presentation of its 37 proposals for the 2012 presidential election. Before adding that Greece is doomed to leave the eurozone such as Spain and Portugal. "The euro is dead and the cumulative recession policies can only lead to disaster."

Based on this observation, the candidate intends sovereigntist "reorient Europe on a sound footing." How? By extirpating the France of the single currency as soon as possible "to move to the euro-franc". And hopefully get it "more flexibility" to allow the French economy and to "restore the competitiveness of our businesses are no longer aligned with a German euro". And for good reason, "the problem of France is not budget, but commercial," he insists. Restore the trade balance through a devaluation of 15 to 20% of the euro-Swiss franc against the euro mark.

Nationally, "the heart of its economic program," it is the financing of public investments by the Bank of France at rates of 0%. Nearly 500 billion euros and will be monetized over five years to reduce debt burdens. "At the end of this exceptional program, there will be more 49 billion of interest charges, but 30", approximately 19 billion of additional revenue to fund "investments for the future."

"Protectionism smart"

The downside, this printing money would generate, according to him, 3% inflation per year in 2013 before declining to 2% thereafter, on the grounds that there will be no private money creation one hour payday loan. Priority will also be given to the massive investment in research and education. "Globalization is the rivalry to conquer the great innovations of tomorrow," he said. With all these measures, the applicant does not intend nothing less than to relocate a million jobs in France.

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan also advocated the establishment of a "smart protectionism" by taxing products that do not respect certain social and environmental bases, while wishing to halve the tax for companies that reinvest their profits on the ground French.

Finally, he lashed out strongly in finance, "this crazy industry ruining Europe", and called for the establishment not of speculation, thanks to the introduction of the Tobin tax should report "21 billion in full years."

"Sarkozy, Bayrou or Holland offer all programs suicidal for Europe". As for Le Pen, it "distributes purchasing power by magic." In other words, the "only true anti-system candidate," it's him. Confident, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan says also that in terms of signatures, it is "very close to the goal."

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Hocus-pocus, coup, betrayal … and Socialist Trade Unions slam in chorus the vote "on the sly," Jan. 31 in the Assembly, a provision that amends the labor law. Section 40 of the bill Warsmann simplification of the law provides that "the establishment of a distribution of hours over a period longer than the week and not more than the year under a collective agreement is not a change in the employment contract. "It aims to extend a 2008 law which allows to modulate the working time per company agreement but requires the approval of each employee. A condition that prevents any modulation in practice.

Alain Vidal, in charge of employment in the Holland team, justified his opposition to this change: "A new organization of work may be incompatible with the family and personal life of each employee." ……. .

"The employee will have no choice but to accept the blackmail against new employment zones and / or pay cut, otherwise the dismissal without recourse," says Bernard Thibault (CGT).

But above all, Jean-Claude Mailly (FO) sees a "gap" to develop competitive employment agreements, while Francois Fillon has given two months to the social partners to negotiate on this idea. "This is a first step in the government's willingness to allow the employer to lower both working time and remuneration without the explicit agreement of the employee," he feared. "It is contradictory that Parliament legislates on an element of negotiation to be open, except to reduce the usefulness of this negotiation," abounds Francois Chereque (CFDT).

Short memory

"This provision only relates to working time arrangements and not contrary to the logic of competitiveness, employment agreements, to the articulation agreement in the same working time, work organization and remuneration", they responded by Xavier Bertrand wrote. The Minister sees no "interference with the negotiation," which starts Friday.

Unions are also far from having discovered this provision on January 31. It had been passed in the same terms, at first reading, the … October 18. So, before Nicolas Sarkozy calls for competitive employment agreements. And social partners had been consulted on the text in September by the Ministry of Labour! The CGT had cried foul but the CFDT held that section would "in the right direction." As for the PS, he had voted in the late 1990s, laws in 35 hours, a provision that an agreement down-modulating working time would be required for each employee.

"No organization has raised the subject during the preparatory meetings at the Social Summit, nor subsequent discussions on competitiveness employment agreements," says Xavier Bertrand. "We had forgotten," says a trade unionist. The text should be considered on second reading in the Senate next Monday, and then finally adopted by the deputies on Feb. 29.

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