Greece: into an agreement Monday with the Eurogroup

 

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 payday loans. 

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.

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Greek MPs are tightening their belts a little

 

"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

End of Mission Didier Quillot. The Chairman of Lagardère Active, the branch of Lagardère Media, is leaving the group he joined in 2006. It will be replaced by Denis Olivennes, who now heads the information hub of Lagardère Active (Europe 1, Le Journal du Dimanche, Paris Match and Newsweb). Arnaud Lagardère person has informed its employees on Monday at the headquarters of Lagardère Active, in Levallois-Perret.

Didier Quillot has carried out a dual mission: first sell the regional daily press (Provence and Nice Matin) Hersant Media Group, then the international press, including international editions of Elle magazine, to 651 million euros, the American Hearst. It also comes to sell the 34% that held in the Lagardere Interactive World, the Internet subsidiary of the group Le Monde. Only in control

Denis Olivennes, who continue to steer Europe1, takes over to a new stage.Upon his arrival in September 2006, Didier Quillot, former head of Orange, was primarily to Lagardère Active, ex-Hachette Filipacchi Media, "a leading international publisher of multimedia content in the markets and multigéographie" . The group was then "not good enough," the admission of the new boss. On a turnover estimated at 2.2 billion euros, Web activities weighed only a few percent. The other part of his mission was to change the group "a strategy of alliances and acquisitions in the digital."

This is the case with several operations "structuring" the redemption of the end of 2006 Newsweb (sports.fr, boursier.com, autonews.fr) for 75 million euros, then Jumpstart Automation, an online advertising in the U.S. United paid 60 to 80 million.

Change the marriage contract to better protect her husband

Your matrimonial is it still fits your financial situation? Through the acquisitions made during the life, property division rules established by the initial marriage contract may no longer meet the needs of the couple, including the death of one spouse.

The rules of succession are now more protective of the surviving spouse. They guarantee him at his option, the option of retaining the use of all of the assets of the deceased, or to obtain full ownership of one quarter of those assets. The question arises, however, with respect to the principal residence, especially when children are involved. If one spouse wants more protection, it is possible, by gift or by will to assign ownership of property.

The fall of a six-story elevator building in a housing project in Paris on October 27, revived the debate on the safety of these facilities. Work had been made last month on this lift-de-registered by the company Schindler Somatem, responsible for maintenance. Tenants of the building where the accident occurred will file a complaint against Paris-Habitat, owner, announced their partnership "Tenants angry." The social landlord, he has filed a complaint against X. An investigation is underway to determine if it was a defective part of the manufacturer or poor maintenance. Contacted by The Figaro.fr Schindler declined to comment.

France has 520,000 elevators, accessible to 482,500 people. National Park is the most dilapidated of Europe, half of the devices with more than 25 years and a quarter over 40 years, according to the Federation of elevators online cash advance.He points to the installation of variable frequency (a braking system is turned off) on all lifts while he believes that technology is only useful for devices used extensively, is to say in very high buildings or offices, or 20% of the housing.

• New constraints maintenance and troubleshooting

Paul Philippot, managing director of the National Union of property (UNPI), professionals have "staked everything on the renovation, more lucrative than the interview." Robien law has yet mandated a visit technicians every six weeks. "But the elevator companies are understaffed to meet this obligation," said Bruno Dhont.

"The mother of all strikes" paralyze Greece

A country paralyzed, a city under siege. While millions of Greeks are called to go on strike for 48 hours, 10 police squads have erected fences riot around the place of parliament in central Athens. The movement must be "the mother of all strikes," warned Tuesday the leftist daily Ta Nea.

Nearly 20,000 protesters began to march at 9 am Wednesday in the capital to converge to the emblematic Syntagma Square, political heart of the country. In June, violent clashes with security forces had driven the rally.

"We will send a strong message to the government and political system," promised Tsikritas Costas, head of the ADEDY union representing public service. "We believe that the mobilization will be huge." The general strike could indeed be the largest since a long time.Administrations, public transportation, businesses, and even bakers are required to stop work and march against the rigor introduced by the Socialist government.

This is putting pressure on MPs to discuss for three days from Thursday, new austerity measures. The consideration for the payment of the next $ 8 billion euros, as part of the plan of 110 billion granted by the EU and the IMF in spring 2010.

"Blackmail"

Prime Minister George Papandreou has been determined: "All these people who blackmail and take the country hostage, occupying buildings, leaving garbage piled in the streets, closing ports and the Parthenon, must explain how this will help us get back on our feet Payday Loan for Bad Credit. "

He also called for unity."We must continue this war, as a people, as a government, as a caucus to enable the country to win it, he argued. We will win for the country, we will continue. That's why I'm here. "The head of government has a narrow majority of four seats in Parliament.

However, concerns remain on the eve of the vote of austerity on the discipline of PASOK. A member of the Socialist Group has resigned in protest Monday. Two others have threatened to vote against it. A small opposition party could come in and vote for reinforcement.

The new austerity measures, which account for 6.6 billion euros, include reductions in wages and pensions, designed to place laid off 30,000 employees and to establish a single salary scale in the public .The government also wants to lower the threshold of annual taxable income to 5,000 euros.

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The newspaper editors united against Apple

The French press bristled. In a joint statement, the leading provider of daily newspapers and magazine announced Friday that it will not NewsStand titles in the digital kiosk that has just been launched by Apple with its new mobile operating system (IOS 5) . Digital versions of newspapers are accessible via the iPhone and iPad applications.

"The trading conditions imposed by Apple today are unacceptable," consider the union of the national daily press (SPQN), the Union of the regional daily press (SPQR), the SPM, which represents the magazine, and professional union the magazine of opinion (SPPMO)."They are undermining the economic model of the press and ultimately reduce the choices available to Internet users."

Newspaper publishers have stalled on several issues with Apple charges for the sale of newspapers imposed, failure to provide subscription multi-platform and commission rates, considered "excessive". It is 30% for any sale in the App Store – be it a press title, a video game or a piece of music. But more than the standard rate of commission is the loss of control over customer relationships that worries the press."Personal data readers are the property of Apple and are not systematically shared with publishers, yet anxious to establish a relationship of trust with their readers to better take into account their expectations, 'the publishers.

Call for government

These criticisms have emerged since the launch of the platform download App Store in 2008 and is shared by publishers around the world. Newspapers have tried to deal with the manufacturer in developing their own applications, offering subscriptions multi-platform on their websites and enlançant a common digital kiosk application in late June (e-Presse premium). But the very existence of the latter is now threatened by NewsStand."We have not intended to be distributed by a single booth, but we want to be distributed under normal conditions," said one editor.

French media owners could benefit from the organization of the conference "New World 2.0" by Minister Eric Besson, this weekend, to educate government and foreign players to their difficulties. The battle is not won. As with Condé Nast, some media groups have signed with Apple in the U.S. while their French subsidiary belongs to the anti-sling NewsStand.

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The high yields are sought by individuals

The increased volatility in equity markets and the low pay of traditional investments (2% on average for tax-advantaged bank books, money market investments 0.7% and around 2% for bond funds invested in conventional bonds) to encourage More and more investors to find the funds to share so-called "high yield" or directly select actions with good yields.

The temptation is great indeed try to take advantage of very high salaries offered by many CAC 40 stocks: 11% more than expected this year surFrance Telecom, Vivendi 9.6%, 6.9% of GDF Suez and Total and 6.5% of Suez Environnement. These attractive rates are much higher than the average of the CAC 40, which is already high at 4.8%.Level itself almost twice the performance of government bonds to 10 years.

The promise of return is high, but these values ​​traditionally considered defensive have been unable to withstand the market downturn. All titles in the list of the highest yields in the CAC 40 fell in the same proportions as the index. After sharp declines occurred in recent months, however, many experts believe that the values ​​of performance should begin to put up a good resistance in the event of further decline. It would be a good time to get involved.

Stocks or mutual funds

There are two ways to play the performance faxless cash advances. The first is to buy direct from companies offering high dividend.But instead of seeking the largest dividend, better focus its durability, good visibility on the evolution of profits and growth prospects minimum without which no development of the company is possible. Therefore rather than focusing only on the most spectacular returns, such as France Telecom, it is better to diversify its choice of titles, such as GDF Suez, Total, Suez Environnement, Vinci, EDF, and Sanofi. Many companies that offer potential returns of 6.5 to 5%.

The alternative is to opt for funds that specialize in this type of security. During the last few months none of them has survived the market downturn, but the restoring force that is the prospect of good pay should start playing in their favor.Many French funds have over the years specialized in actions "high performance". Among these are: Habs return, Ecofi Performance Shares, Performance Oddo, LFP Performance Shares Growth, growth yield values ​​(find details of all these funds Star.fr Morning) or a new fund under Luxembourg law Groupama AM G Fund European Equity High Dividend.

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A gold coin for sale 200 euros

She has it all in these turbulent times. The piece that sells for 200 euros on Monday, the Monnaie de Paris is solid gold. A metal sought by individuals particularly since the financial turmoil. The 50,000 copies (999 per thousand of gold) are sold on the website of the Paris Mint www.monnaiedeparis.fr at its headquarters in Paris and in 1000 post offices.

For collectors, it is a copy of most in the series of Euro regions (silver coins with a face containing the names of 27 French regions). "This piece represents a safe investment, since it still be worth at least face value," it says to the Monnaie de Paris. An argument that has more weight than other investments are sad mine.

When she threw parts of the regions 10 euros in cash (one model per region), the Monnaie de Paris had found at his door in the morning thousands of individuals. And the quota available on the Internet had passed in less than a morning on a one-piece per second. Fans will do so many this time? Gold is the ultimate safe haven, but today it is no longer 10, but 200 euros to be paid to pocket a new gold coin. Verdict noon.

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The CAC 40 falls through its

The days are not alike on the financial markets. The past three days, the CAC 40 has continued to flirt with the bar of 3000 points. This Friday, the stock index closed down 1.51% at 2981.96. Thursday reassured by indicators of employment growth and U.S. financial markets this time had a difficult session after disappointing statistics from the United States, China and Europe. Thanks to a good start to the week, however, the CAC 40 gained more than 5% this week.

So investors remained pessimistic before the meeting between President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou that began at 17 hours, to "take stock of the situation with him that is currently in Greece."

More than 18% increase for the banking week

Across the Atlantic, consumer spending has slowed sharply in August, while household incomes have in turn declined for the first time since October 2009. Were also more bad news from China where activity contracted slightly in September for the third consecutive month as Germany, which saw its retail sales fall 2.9% on month in August .Sign of the resurgence of pessimism, the euro resumed its decline against the dollar at 1.3456 dollars (-0.96%) and oil is about to go under 80 dollars to 80.082 dollars exactly (-1, 61%).

On the corporate side, banking stocks were again weighed on the Paris stock exchange, but this time negatively. Societe Generale lost 7.31% to 19.54 euros, Crédit Agricole has sold 3.17% to 5.23 euros and BNP Paribas dropped 3.50% to 30.05 euros. Week, however, was very positive for the French banks as they have won between 18% and 20% in stock. Most cyclical stocks, the more dependent the economy, also rose in the image of Lafarge (10.40% for the week) and ArcelorMittal (4.93%). However, the luxury sector has suffered: the last five sessions, lost 5.50% LVMH and PPR was down 7.88%.Vallourec, which suffers from the slowdown in the sectors of mechanical engineering, gives up almost 9% for the week.