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Minister of Industry, José Manuel Soria, foreign affairs, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, through the CEO of Repsol, Antonio Brufau is a general mobilization in Madrid. Since the announcement Monday night from the expropriation of the group YPF, Repsol's subsidiary in Argentina, the Spanish government officials and oil company's succession of television sets in press conferences to express their anger.

Because even if it concerns also international investors, largely present in the capital of Repsol YPF, the coup of President Cristina Kirchner is lived in Madrid as an affront to the country. "A decision against the interests of Spain and Spaniards," says Soria. It must be said that YPF is the crown jewel of Repsol. The Argentine subsidiary to the parent provides half of the production of hydrocarbons (or 459,000 barrels per day), 40% of its reserves and a third of its gross profit. Repsol, the coup, wants to pay a high price Buenos Aires: Antonio Brufau requires 8 billion euros in compensation for the 57.4% stake in Spanish oil YPF.

"A very bad signal"

For now, Spain brandished the threat of retaliation, without elaborating. Minister Soria evokes "the consequences of different fields: diplomatic, commercial, and industrial energy." Europe is united with Madrid. The head of European diplomacy, Catherine Ashton, denounces "a very bad signal" sent by Argentina to foreign investors and warned that Brussels is studying all options instant payday loan.

Beyond the rhetorical threats, what are the real possibilities of retaliation? Specifically, Madrid remains an important outlet for Buenos Aires. Spain imports twice what it exports to Argentina. In 2011, Spaniards bought 2.01 billion euros of products to Argentina and that they have sold 1 billion. Chemicals, raw materials, intermediate products as well as fruits, vegetables, fish and seafood are among the goods most in demand in Spain.

"Legal uncertainty" in Argentina

Repsol also is not the only company of Spanish origin present in Argentina. In energy, construction and banks, the Spanish groups have settled in Buenos Aires and the rest of the country. Gas Natural has reached such an EBITDA of 27 million euros last year. Santander and BBVA, the two giants of Spanish bank, achieved respectively 5.36% and 5.22% of their net profits in Argentina. Telefonica de Argentina, finally, achieved a turnover of more than 3 billion euros, thanks to its 24,000 employees in Argentina.

For now, the 400 Spanish companies are located low profile. Spanish executives point out, the image of Gas Natural, "the excellent relations with the Argentine government." But on condition of anonymity, officials complain in the Spanish press of the "legal uncertainty" that takes place in Argentina.

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If you have the right amount of money and can lay out a budget that adequately reduces your personal expenses, you can either reduce the amount of your fast loan or drop it altogether.
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    A decree and a decree signed by Xavier Bertrand were published in the Official Journal on Thursday, trying to implement a solution against excess fees the most excessive.

    As expected, the Minister of Health proposes to anesthetists, surgeons and obstetricians in sector 2 (free prices) to limit their excess fees to 50% beyond the "tariff Safely." It also requires them to perform at least 30% of acts without overshoot. Nothing compulsory volunteers receive in exchange for partial support of their social contributions. In parallel, complementary health (mutual, private insurers, pension funds) are imposed the obligation to repay the overruns to keep certain tax advantages.

    The device must be expanded in the coming days. Another decree to impose additional pay as overruns in other medical specialties. With one difference: the doctors involved will commit to not charge more than 20% above the tariff Safely, on acts alone techniques (imaging, minor surgery …). They can not in practice on clinical procedures and consultations.

    Paradox: the device does not fully satisfied neither the doctors nor the supplemental insurers, not patients. While appreciating a "real breakthrough", the CSMF, the first organization of private practitioners, regrets that "practitioners of a sector is left out payday loans lenders." Even the tone of the union side, the Bloc, the majority among the surgical specialties. A sector physicians are those who do not have the right to introduce overshoot. They should stick to Safely rates. But Medicare itself recognizes that such rates, frozen for years because of funding, will not match the cost nor the time nor the level of expertise and legal risk of surgical procedures .

    Mutuality French, meanwhile, feared windfall: many surgeons already practicing anesthetists or overruns "moderate". They could grow to the the 50% tariff beyond Social Security, and receive in addition to the lightening of their burdens. Conversely, in areas with a concentration of very large excesses (Paris, Lyon, Paca …), the Mutual fears that the track is "unattractive to practitioners" and therefore ineffective. For patients without supplemental coverage (less than 10% of the population), the problem will remain the same for them.

    The solution is partial, imperfect, its success is not guaranteed. She still deserves to exist, after years of fruitless negotiations between doctors, health insurance and mutual agreements signed no tomorrow, and threats of intervention policies ever implemented.

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  • 2010 marks a departure for French exports of military equipment. With a total of 5.12 billion euros, they are falling over 8.1 billion garnered in 2009 (6.5 billion in 2008). The objective of Paris was to beat all its records by signing for "at least 10 billion of export contracts" is more or less the equivalent of what the French army spending for its own every year.

    Nevertheless, the government notes in the twelfth edition of its report to parliament on arms exports to France for 2010, "France has maintained fourth largest exporter of defense equipment (…) in a situation difficult ".

    The world export market has stabilized at 70 billion euros.And in total military spending worldwide have slowed to 1.127 trillion euros, an increase of over 1% against a growth of 5% per year between 2001 and 2009. "Over the decade," the report notes, "the United States, the European Union, where Britain and France stand out, Russia and Israel share 90% of the export market."

    The decline in export activity in 2010 due to the lag of several large contracts – as in 2009, with sales in Brazil of four submarines and 50 helicopters – that France hoped to sign the year last.

    Remarkable performances

    In discussions since 2009, the contract for the sale of two ships of projection and command (BPC) Mistral class in Russia was finally signed in June 2011 between DCNS and Rosoboronexport to 1.1 billion euros.It is therefore not recorded in 2010.

    And ongoing negotiations with several countries to sell the Rafale combat aircraft built by Dassault Aviation, have not yet been completed. Among the most promising, the Brazilian has cooled with the decision of the President Rousseff to defer any decision to buy 36 fighter in 2012. The second, United Arab Emirates, is still active.

    Negotiations, that France hoped to see succeed in 2010, continues with Abu Dhabi. Just over a week, Gerard Longuet had found that Paris had entered "a final negotiation." The defense minister had described as "very high" probability that the contract is concluded. France and the UAE have been negotiating the sale of 2008 copies of 60 Rafale.The French fighter is also short list in India along with the Eurofighter, developed by EADS, BAE and Finmeccanica to supply 126 aircraft to the Indian Army.

    France can also expect to have the benefits of its commitment to Libya where the effectiveness of French equipment was again demonstrated (after including Afghanistan) under real conditions in a theater of operation. Of these, the performance of Tiger helicopters (EADS) and the Rafale, whose versatility allows him to perform all the tasks (surveillance, attack in depth, defensive etc.) were noted. "This is the only aircraft in the world capable of performing such a feat today," says a military engaged in Operation Harmattan.

    For France, the stakes are high because the Rafale irrigates the French industry, including Ile-de-France and Aquitaine.The French fighter involved 500 industrial partners and represents more than 8000 jobs in total.

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  • After a third round of chained up on Thursday, the CAC 40 continues its momentum on Friday in the wake of Wall Street and Asian stock markets. The benchmark index of the Paris Bourse opens up 1.21% to 3082.39 points, showing investors for the time being reassured by the decision of the central bankers of the richer countries to mobilize to prevent the depletion liquidity of banks in dollars. For the record, he had closed the previous day on an increase of 3.27% to 3045.62 points.The improvement is also gaining other European financial centers: the Footsie-100 from the London Stock Exchange rose 0.91% to 5386.34 points, the Dax in Frankfurt from 1.8% to 5607.51 points, the Ibex -35 Madrid from 1.18% to 8435.9 points and the FTSE Milan Mib of 1.29% at 14,832 points.

    Thus, the European Central Bank (ECB), the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, Swiss National Bank and the Bank of Japan have opened their facilities for dollar loans to European institutions in three months, at their request. The decision was hailed by leading international institutions including the IMF, through its President Christine Lagarde: "This is a clear indication on their part, from the two largest members of the euro area from a point of Economically, the future of Greece is truly in the euro area.This appears to be strongly rooted in them both, "she said Thursday night by referring to the Franco-German tandem. The same applies to the ECB: "We are all very closely 'united in one purpose,'" said last night Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the ECB.

    A meeting of finance ministers in Poland

    However, brokers are concerned that this improvement was not part of the time. "The coordinated central bank takes the market today," noted Toshiyuki Kanayama, broker at Monex, quoted by Dow Jones Newswires. But this does not solve the problem of the euro area should have a temporary effect. "Suddenly, all eyes have turned to Wroclaw in Poland, where there is a meeting of EU finance ministers on Greece.It should last two days and overcome the remaining obstacles to the implementation of the second plane to Athens to help avoid bankruptcy the country, totaling nearly 160 billion euros, decided July 21. Note that Timothy Geithneir, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, will attend the round table.

    On the other side of the Atlantic, U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday night that his plan for the use of 447 billion dollars could generate "up to 2 points of growth" and lower "a point unemployment ", by creating 1.9 million jobs, in a speech in Washington. And while the United States are experiencing an unemployment rate of 9.1%.

    On the foreign exchange market, the euro kept most of the gains made the previous day.The European currency was worth 1.3848 dollars and 106.31 yen Friday morning, down slightly compared to 1.3882 dollars from the previous evening. Similarly, the oil price displayed in a small increase in morning trading, a barrel of "light sweet crude" earned 5 cents to 89.45 dollars per barrel of Brent North Sea 14 cents to 112.44 dollars. "This liquidity will likely prevent the recession to hit the euro area, supporting crude oil prices," said Victoire Shum, an analyst at Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.

    On the macroeconomic front, foreign trade and balance of payments in the euro area for the month of July will be published on Friday.

    In France, business start-ups in France rebounded in August after two months of decline.A total of 41,697 companies were created last month, according to Insee, a figure up 7.5% from July, which was the worst month for a year and a half.

    United States, the net capital flows and the index of consumer confidence from the University of Michigan will be published early in the afternoon.

    Values ​​to follow

    Banking

    Again, banks, led by Societe Generale (4.96% to 19.19 euros), Credit Agricole (3.30% to 5.70 euros) and BNP Paribas (3.92% at 31, 69 euros), will be scrutinized by investors, following the decision by central banks to help European institutions.

    Air France-KLM (0.84% ​​to 6.11 euros) and EADS (+0.02% at 22.22 euros)

    The manufacturer will control 50 devices equally between European manufacturers Airbus and Boeing, for a total of $ 11.3 billion (8.1 billion euros) to ensure the renewal of its fleet, say Les Echos to be published Friday.

    Hermes (-6.08% to 252 euros)

    Resumption of trading on Friday for the title of the luxury group, which was suspended the day pending the decision of the Court of Appeal in Paris on speculation about the fate of its capital due to a possible takeover bid by LVMH.

    Areva (3.17% to 21.66 euros)

    The group has suspended two months for the production of two French factories processing of uranium due to the decline in demand for nuclear power plants in Japan after the disaster in Fukushima, officials said Thursday from the French nuclear group.

    EDF (2.25% to 21.09 euros)

    Group and Electrical Delmi A2A and its majority shareholder, who jointly control Edison, announced the extension of their shareholder agreement until October 31 at number two in the Italian electricity.

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  • With 13.1% of its agricultural land for organic products, four times the national average, the Drôme is the first organic department of France. Another indicator that does not deceive, it is also the department in which college students in school canteens are offered the highest proportion (25%) of organic products on their menus. Well before the extent of Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire to force feeding to be at least 20% of products from organic farming in the composition of meals.

    This is why the Chambers of Agriculture in connection with the General Council and 40 partners are organizing the third edition of the European Tech and Bio "Carrefour European Organic Farming Techniques and Alternatives," in Valencia. An event that has been going mercerdi until today.

    Three factors explain this renewed interest. First of all the agricultural history of this department."After 1968, we witnessed a return to the land of urban agriculture were concerned about the issue in a different way, already with environmental concerns and quality higher than those of high productivity," said Guillaume Didier General Council Chair of the Drôme and also a senator. "These were the pioneers who wanted to produce differently," says his part Jean-Louis Cazaubon, Vice President of Chambers of Agriculture in charge of monitoring of organic farming.

    In this spirit they have restored the sheep to make deposits and were able to live off their herds of sheep or goats. Others were interested in the plant sector. Moreover, "the plants to aromatic and medicinal organic production are the first of the department," says Didier Guillaume.In front of fruit and vegetables, eggs and even sheep and goats.

    Second reason for the success of bio, geography places marked by a pronounced relief and small plots that did not encourage intensive farming. "The diversity of landscapes and production is also a very positive factor for the development of organic farms with a lot of mixed farming, the system is well suited to organic farming," says Jean-Louis Cazaubon.

    Finally the political will is also an important key to the success of organic in the Drome."The involvement and support of local authorities as well as the stakeholders in agricultural development can better acceptance by farmers who produce organic in line with the expectations of consumers," said Jean-Louis Cazaubon.

    For its part, the General Council provides specific support to farmers who have decided to convert to green agriculture. "It reflects a local agricultural system with the idea of ​​matching supply and demand, using software on the Internet," says Didier Guillaume.

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    "The French are becoming greener

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  • The absolute defense of the financial score

    Do everything to prevent France to lose its "AAA" rating! Since the U.S. has been damaged on Friday by the rating agency Standard & Poor's, the pressure has increased dramatically over the last states still rated AAA in the world. Keep this precious document is now the major objective of the French government, for reasons both political and economic. A downgrade of France in fact lead to mechanically increase the cost of debt refinancing. But with 47 billion a year in interest payments, the debt burden is the second largest budget item in order of importance. At such high levels, any runaway deficit could swing into a downward spiral.

    For now, however, there is no indication that France is threatened.On the contrary: since the beginning of the new crisis, two weeks ago, the rate at which the Treasury borrows on the markets – and ten years – fell by 3.44% to 3.07%, which is one point among the lows. In practice this means that investors continue to buy the French debt they still consider very safe. Moreover, Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch have confirmed all three since the beginning of the week's AAA rating and France recalled that the note was accompanied by a "stable" outlook, that is, that they do not intend to revise the medium term. This does not prevent the wildest rumors running now in the trading rooms. Bercy had to lie to "formally" on Wednesday that France would be degraded."We want the managers of U.S. pension funds who question the quality of the French debt," says a French banker. To silence these questions that may to be growing, the executive is forced to accelerate its program of fiscal adjustment.

    The unknown growth in 2012

    Thursday morning, INSEE publish the number of French growth in the second quarter of 2011. Officially, the institute provides an increase of 0.4% of GDP. But economists expect a lower figure. Some do not hesitate to bet, even on a stagnation in activity between March and June After the strong rebound in GDP in the first quarter (+0.9%) consumption and industrial production have turned red, for technical reasons (end of scrapping, rising oil prices …) but also because global economy is now declining payday loans in one hour.The surprise meeting at the Elysee on Wednesday was probably meant to anticipate bad news ahead. "We have always said that the second quarter would be worse than the first and the activity will then return later this year," cautions there be in the entourage of Baroin.

    A priori, the government should maintain its forecast of 2% growth this year, he still has a great chance to meet with the dynamics of the first month. However, doubt increases over the year 2012. Initially planned 2.5% growth for 2012 was revised down in May to 2.25%. This forecast now appears optimistic. Even before the storm in financial markets, experts Treasury recommended to display a more conservative figure of 2%."We want to be politically and economically credible our expectations: whether to revise downwards the growth we'll see," says one in the entourage of Valérie Pécresse.

    More rigorous perspective

    Baroin and Valerie Pécresse continue to hammer home: the objective of "intangible" is to keep the deficit reduction goals that provide for a deficit of 5.7% of GDP in 2011 and 4.6% in 2012. And that, "regardless of the level of growth," says one at Bercy. In other words, if the government is lowering its forecast for GDP in the coming days, they must be accompanied by such additional savings. For now, it is expected that the 2012 budget to be submitted end of September, involves three billion euros in savings on tax loopholes. It will probably do much more.Gilles Carrez (UMP), General Rapporteur of the budget in the Assembly, recommends at least 5 billion economy. If the amount is not yet determined the method, it begins to ripen. "It's likely that we proceed as in 2011," it says in the entourage of Baroin. This implies a general planing existing niches – "for everyone involved" – and a removal of devices deemed the most unjust. Companies are in the crosshairs this time, especially large compared to SMEs. Determine precisely the niches will be deleted at stake in the meeting of August 24.

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  • "One half of quite exceptional, which took place in an environment among the tightest we have known since 2008. "Pierre Mariani, the executive director of Dexia, planted at once the setting for the presentation of interim results. Marked by a historic loss, but expected four billion euros in the second quarter, the exercise was in fact a taste back in the worst days of the financial crisis. The acceleration of its financial restructuring, announced in late May, and participation in the Greek rescue plan increased the deficit of the bank.

    The provision of 3.6 billion euros spent in these accounts to settle quickly the legacy of the past had been known since last spring.Powered by November 2008 at the head of the bank, just rescued from bankruptcy through a recapitalization of the French, Belgian and Luxembourg 6.4 billion, Pierre Mariani had discovered a bond portfolio of over 200 billion euros. One of his priorities was to isolate those assets and liquidating them bulky over water markets.

    Under pressure from Brussels, who complained about the progress of the restructuring, management had decided a few weeks ago, to accelerate the movement. The U.S. portfolio of Financial Products, guaranteed by the shareholders of Dexia States, was almost completely sold. "A performance in the market environment in recent months," ruled the executive director.

    Dexia had to abruptly move these toxic securities on its books to market value.A transaction motivated by the desire to reduce the exposure of the bank to the U payday loans.S. economy and solve its funding problems dollars. "We are immunized against the U.S. venture," says Pierre Mariani.

    In parallel, the group sold in markets 15 billion euros of assets from its bond portfolio to a limited loss of 205 million euros. This weight loss program is accompanied by a decrease logic financing needs of the bank. In the short term, Dexia can now be financed with less than 100 billion euros each year, against 265 billion in the fall of 2008.

    338 million for Greece

    The participation of the Dexia bailout Greek did not help the overall picture: it results in a charge of 338 million euros. These cumulative losses do not undermine the solvency ratio of the bank, which is still above regulatory requirements.It must be said that for two years, the school had earned profits through its € 2.3 billion of regulatory capital. Beyond its financial restructuring, the activity of the bank has held pretty well. On its core businesses (local government finance, retail banking in the Benelux and Turkey, insurance and asset management), Dexia has made just under 400 million euros in pretax profits.

    Pierre Mariani expects to return to profitability in the next quarter. He has no plans so far to take a dividend in 2012. Carried away by the pressure on sovereign debt, the title of Dexia gets closer to its historical lows. He lost over 80% of its value in three years.

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  • If prices continue to increase, rising interest rates tend to slow down on its side. The latest results of the Housing Credit Monitoring / CSA published Monday, the average rate charged by banks for getting a home loan rose to 3.90% in July, almost exactly as in June.

    It's much more at the end of 2010, where it reached a low of 3.27% on average, before rising sharply in the first quarter of 2011. In the early months of the year, interest rates have taken nearly 10 basis points per month, before slowing gradually to rise in the second quarter.

    Because the factors that competed so far in the rise in interest rates now seem not to have to play. "The increase began in November 2010 was related to liquidity constraints imposed by the Basel III.To satisfy them, the banks have increased their margins on new loans no fax payday loans. Today, this adjustment – of around 70 points to 100 basis points depending on the establishment – is probably done, "said Michel Mouillart, an economist at Paris X-Nanterre.

    Other factors, however, could take over. The cost of money, in particular, could rise because of uncertainties related to the amount of sovereign debt. For the moment, "this factor did not play," said the economist. But it is already expected that the three-month interbank rates and increasing to ten years until 2012, drawing upward those for mortgages. "The movement of rising interest rates should continue," predicts ultimately Eluère Olivier, an economist at Credit Agricole.

    Increase the duration of loans

    Photo credits: Jean-Christophe Marmara / Le Figaro

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  • PhotoBox, the European leader in the development of images on the Internet, is expanding its universe. He acquired moonpig, the leading UK online sales of custom greeting cards. An Englishman sends on average 54 cards per year, against just 7 for the French!

    Moonpig has shipped 12 million cards over the past 12 months, achieving a turnover of around 42 million euros. Photobox pays 136 million euros, provided by 83 different investment funds.

    Photobox develops over a million prints per day and achieved a turnover of 80 million euros in 2010 cash advance flexible payments. The European market of the photo is estimated at 3 billion euros. The e-merchants hold third, and try to stand out from the mass distribution by customizing products."By combining these two profitable companies, leaders in their market, we reach a critical size in the custom publishing market," said Stanislas Laurent, CEO of Photobox.

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  • And the winner is … Sodexo. The group catering entered into exclusive negotiations with Accor to buy him the luxury caterer Lenôtre for an enterprise value of € 75 million. "I welcome the interest shown by Sodexo, which would be ideal for a buyer to allow Lenôtre to continue its development by taking advantage of increased resources," said Denis Hennequin, president and CEO of Accor. Without Lenôtre will be a 100% hotel group. Created in the 1960s by Gaston Lenôtre, the Lenôtre achieved last year a turnover of 105 million euros. Several companies were bidding to its acquisition, including the group Le Duff (Brioche Doree) and the Lucien Barrière group of casinos.

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