Hotels: 150 euros per night taxed?

The Finance Committee of the National Assembly on Wednesday adopted an amendment removing the increase in the VAT rate in the theme parks to theme. Then Saturday, Jean-Pierre Raffafin said the head of state had waived this. If the professionals, and local elected officials – Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Philippe de Villiers in the lead, have welcomed the government ends up in turn with a hole of 90 million – expected gain with the increase in VAT – in new revenue under the austerity plan. There is indeed little chance that the measure be reinstated Tuesday by the parliament met in extraordinary session.

But the government was clear: any measure removed must be compensated. Asked on Sunday to go to Europe Grand 1-Le Parisien / Today in France-i-Télé, Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand described the week ahead of "week of choice."Present at the close of the Campus UMP Marseille, Prime Minister François Fillon has assured that "nothing is taboo and nothing is left" in the savings plan. "The government is open to criticism and amendments provided they do not involve the amount of effort, nor their balance," he said.

0 to 14%

The general rapporteur of the Budget, the UMP Gilles Carrez therefore working on a measure that would affect this time the luxury hotel, the four, five star and luxury hotels in France. Since the 1960s, the area has a rate of 5.5% VAT. A niche that has cost 930 million euros this year to the state. Hence the idea of ​​submitting the luxury hotel at the standard rate of VAT at 19.6%.

For compatibility reasons, the European creation of a flat tax is now considered. He should table an amendment on Monday late afternoon.It provides that the tax would be due when the room rate exceeds 150 euros per night. It is progressive from 0% to 14% between 150 euros and 300 euros per night and would be fixed at 14%, for a price above 300 euros per night.

Politically interesting

Taxation of luxury hotels is considered politically attractive by some parliamentarians, while the tax on high incomes, which will be discussed in the fall, was ridiculed by the opposition and is not high enough to taste of some big names of the majority. But professionals do not agree. For Jacques Borel, consultant-lobbyist, the measure would be "shooting in the foot."

Secretary of State for Tourism, Frédéric Lefebvre agrees.He told AFP on Friday to be opposed to any measure that overtaxed the luxury hotel, and "deal a blow to the competitiveness" of the French tourism. "I am adverse to anything that overtaxed the luxury hotel business because it is precisely the quality and upmarket who left the area of ​​crisis," he said. As for the Synhorcat, union of the profession, he said that a tax of 33% between 1981 and 1994 on 4-star hotels of the period, against 7.5% for the rest of the hotel, had resulted in what "Many of these hotels" will downgrade "to escape the VAT hike."In Le Parisien, Aujourd'hui en France, director of the Plaza Athénée expressed this weekend's fear of his clients go to other capitals as cheaper in Italy or Spain.

Valérie Pécresse, making his debut as budget minister in the chamber Tuesday, said "respect" the parliamentary debate. But it should not drag on so that everything is completed before the Senate elections of 25 September.

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The Paris stock exchange plunges into the red

The Paris Bourse widening its losses. After an opening down 1.19%, the CAC 40 drops 2.43% to 3186.47 points in mid-session and switches under the 3200 points. In Frankfurt, the Dax lost 2.07% while in London, the FTSE loose 1.68%.

The day after a volatile session, which however ended with a small increase, investors are very cautious. On Friday, early afternoon is indeed expected U.S. monthly report on employment. This will be the only highlight of the day."There is not a measure of uncertainty before the employment figures to be published, while the fact that U.S. markets are preparing for a long weekend encourages traders to reduce their short positions," Camron says Peacock, an analyst at IG Markets.

As on Wall Street, who finished the day sharply lower yesterday, as investors take profits after four sessions of consecutive increases. This morning, Asian markets also followed this trend.

In addition to wait before the report was released, traders were disappointed by U.S. indexes mixed. The weekly jobless claims have fallen and certainly the contraction was avoided in the manufacturing sector, but construction costs and productivity plummeted.In addition, the White House confirmed the pessimism about the weakness of the recovery across the Atlantic in scaling back its growth forecasts.

Hesitation in oil markets

As for the oil markets, prices causes a wait of a dispersed way. In morning trading, a barrel of "light sweet crude" for delivery in October lost 2 cents to 88.91 dollars a barrel while Brent North Sea crude for October delivery gained 19 cents to 114.48 dollars. In addition to the jobs report, investors feared the consequences of the violent disruption Katia approaching the U.S. coast. In the Gulf of Mexico, BP, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell began evacuating their staff from oil platforms. The Gulf of Mexico provides a quarter of the production of black gold in the United States.

On the foreign exchange market, the euro has stabilized at 1.4238 dollar.Yesterday, the European single currency fell sharply against the dollar, within the scope of renewed concerns vis-à-vis the health of the euro area, where industrial activity contracted in August, contrary to United States.

Rising energy costs caused a 0.5% increase in producer prices in July in the euro area, as expected, but overall inflationary pressures subside to the extent that the economy of the skate zone.

Values ​​to follow

France Telecom: -0.96% to 13.36 euros

The operator has received numerous expressions of interest for its Swiss division, told Reuters CEO Stéphane Richard, noting that financial market volatility would not affect projects sales of assets of the group electronic check payday advance.

Bouygues: -1.15% to 25.87 euros

The Standard & Poor's announced that it placed the long-term rating of A-group under review with negative implications following the announcement by him of a proposed acquisition of securities.

Total: -1.83% to 33.74 euros

The oil will extend all over France its network of service stations at low prices, after tests conducted last year in dozens of outlets, according to Les Echos.

Safran: -2.12% to 27.18 euros, Suez Environnement: -4.10% to 11.11 euros

Saffron is the best candidate for an entry in the CAC 40, while Suez Environnement, whose price has fallen heavily since the beginning of the summer, should come out, say professionals in the Paris Bourse.

NYSE Euronext: -1.72% to 18.60 euros

The London Stock Exchange has confirmed a press report that it is discussing a possible settlement with LCH.Clearnet.Discussions are at a preliminary stage and there is no guarantee that it would, he said.

Arcelor-Mittal: -3.84% to 14.51 euros

The group plans to resort to short in the fourth quarter at its plant in Florange (Moselle), and will ask 600 of the 3,000 employees of the plant to take RTT in September, officials said Thursday a union source

Sanofi: -2.28% to 50.25 euros

The group confirmed Thursday it has reached an agreement with Pfizer to produce in France generic versions of Lipitor, the cholesterol featuring the American group.

Neopost: + 8.80% to 55.49 euros

The group raised its forecast of annual sales for the second time, following an accelerated growth in the second quarter, thanks to the dynamics of North America.

As for recommendations:

EDF: -1.89% to 21.24 euros

Goldman Sachs has revised down its price target on the title, which goes from 49 to 31 euros, while remaining for purchase.

Carrefour: -3.60% to 17.52 euros

HSBC lowered its recommendation to "overweight" to "neutral" and target price of 30.50 to 20 euros.

Pernod Ricard: -1.03% to 61.28 euros

Bernstein lowered its price target from 76 to 67 euros.

Stallergenes: + 0.71% to 49.75 euros

The laboratory of immuno-allergic Thursday announced a net profit up 18% in the first half to 23.7 million euros, benefiting from the "business growth" and a "moderate increase spending research and development. " In the process, Oddo is to reduce its recommendation to neutral.

"The deteriorating U.S. puts enormous pressure on Europe"

In the night from Friday to Saturday, S & P downgraded the rating of the United States, from "AAA" to "AA +". This historic announcement, which comes as the markets have closed a black week, plunged the financial world into the unknown. Munis Hassim, professor at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, explains why such degradation threatens the U.S. economy, the first world power, and identifies the situation to that of Japan in the 1990s.

Is the degradation of the notes of the United States plunges us into a new crisis?

The fact that the United States lose their triple-A means that they have a slightly higher probability of defaulting. But by switching to "AA +", this probability is very low. Moreover, experts and analysts do not believe at all a failure to pay the largest economy in the world. So there is no reason to panic.However, the multiple consequences which such degradation can they prove to be very disturbing.

For example?

The fact that S & P has dared to sacrifice the American note puts enormous pressure on other countries rated AAA, particularly in Europe as the UK or even France. This announcement will fuel fears of a contagion of degradation of notes, when the markets seemed to panic this week. In Italy and Spain (already degraded) in particular, tensions are rising, although they seem to be the new target markets. Moreover, the impact on the banks direct. They will have to review their capital allocation taking into account the appearance of more risky U.S. bonds they hold, as they impose the new international regulations, to strengthen the solvency of banks (Basel III).The recent bank stress tests, whose results were given there only three weeks, have already lost all credibility because they did not include either a restructuring of the Greek debt, or a deterioration note the United States.

Why such a lowering of note can threaten the global economy?

When the debt rating of long-term decline in the U.S., this means that more may not be refunded if the creditor is. However, the markets, the risk is remunerated by interest rates: if I am less sure of being repaid, so I request a higher rate. Thus, losing the "AAA", the U.S. interest rates at 5 years, 10, 20, 30, will mechanically increase.And if rates rise, it's a downward spiral of investment and consumption that will engage, which produces more unemployment, less tax revenue and public expenditure. This government deficits widen further, and sovereign debt. But during the past two weeks very turbulent markets, the U.S. long rates remained very low. There have never been so low, a sign of investor confidence.

There is still a little time, no one imagined the United States lose their AAA. How did they get there?

The problem the U.S. is that they have more flexibility, or a monetary point of view, or budget.On the one hand, monetary policy can not be more accommodating, having pumped billions and billions of dollars of liquidity into the markets and set the interest rate floor (they are between 0% and 0.5 %) to restore the U.S. economy weighed down by the subprime crisis that has capitulated Lehman Brothers, three years ago. On the other, public spending has been poorly controlled, while the U.S. tax burden is already high. Difficult in these conditions for fiscal consolidation.

It is like in Japan twenty years ago …

Exactly, you are right in the Japanese-style scenario. The United States could enter a situation of liquidity trap in which Japan was mired in the 1990s, but never really escape. Rates were zero and sluggish growth, while prices fell, leaving Japan trapped.United States, the U.S. central bank, the Fed is now more capable of supporting the U.S. economy, which has not really recovered from the crisis, according to the latest statistics. Growth for 2011 looks less than expected, despite the monetary support giant that has been deployed. It remains to be seen whether this will result in deflation (lower prices) or if inflation will return. The best case scenario would be the second, to prevent the United States is experiencing a "lost decade" in Japan.

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The display stands up well with JCDecaux Asia

No doubt, the economic model of JCDecaux continues to prove itself. In the first half, sales of the French group, world leader in outdoor advertising, organic growth (excluding acquisitions and currency effects) of 5.8% to 1.17 billion euros, higher than the communication sector, which is between 3 and 4%.

The growth remains strong with a good spread of activities. The dynamism of the Asia-Pacific, representing 19% of sales and grew by almost 20%, but the rest of the world (Middle East and Latin America in particular) helped offset JCDecaux weak activity in France (+0.6%). This is still weighing a quarter of turnover.Similarly, Southern Europe (Portugal, Spain and Italy) continues to suffer.

Among the major activities of JCDecaux, the decline in activity in the display (-3.7% as reported) is offset by the growth of income in airports and public transportation (subway, bus), which jumped nearly 17% over the first six months of the year. A segment of the market in which JCDecaux has invested heavily in recent years.

Stability in third quarter

In total, the group chaired by Jean-Charles Decaux can boast flashing in green. The increase in sales has led to a mechanical increase in the margin, but less than that expected by analysts. Net income group share resort, it, up 46.3% to 95 million euros. The slowdown, however, marked between the first and second quarter.Segment of street furniture (almost half of the activity), growth was almost zero from April to June, a jump of activity against 5% in the first three months of the year. This cons-performance due to the continuing difficulties in Europe and the loss of several concessions to large shopping centers in the United States.

The group gives no margin target. He anticipates only "organic growth of its sales in line with the second quarter. "In other words, we must continue to do with the difficulties in Europe. "Knowing that the bases of comparison are not favorable," argues Jean-Charles Decaux. Organic growth was over 11% in the second quarter of 2010.

"Our media is the one most resistant to the crisis," says the boss.JCDecaux expects the continued urbanization of the planet and the rise of digital (11% of the activity in transport) to continue to grow. Not to mention possible acquisitions.

Air France: conflicts threaten three departures on holiday

While looming two weekends among the busiest in passenger of the year, Air France warned of now-already-and its passengers that they may have to be patient. If the airline has reached an agreement with the seven unions of Stewart and hostesses, thus avoiding a first strike scheduled for July 29 and August 1, she still faces other threats to social movements.

Two pilots notice

The first is the drivers. Tuesday, three minority unions – the SPAF, the Alter and R'Ways – have in fact filed a strike notice for the same July 29 to August 1. As the crew before them, the drivers are protesting against the offensive "anti-low cost" Air France plans to launch in its databases province. The new operation is expected to result, according to the drivers, an increase in the number of hours worked and trips a day.

For now, this movement somewhat worried the company, which does not anticipate any disruption in traffic this particular weekend. She feared much more the second notice, filed for the weekend of August 5 to 8, by the powerful pilots' union SNPL. Especially since the solutions to this conflict then escape it, since it is the government that is directly targeted. The pilots claim in fact the culmination of the reform of the Pension Fund of seafarers, which began three years ago. This morning, Labour Minister Xavier Bertrand told Europe 1 radio he was "hopeful" of finding a solution to the conflict. A mediator was appointed in early July to resolve this issue, which divides pilots and cabin crew.Raphael Hadas-Lebel, who assumes the function of mediator in addition to the Chairman of the Board of Retirement Guidance (NRC) "shall make its findings in the coming hours," said Xavier Bertrand this morning payday loans for bad credit.

The mechanics harden the tone

But at the same time, the management of Air France must also manage a third conflict, less publicized than those of pilots and aircrew, but highly impacting: some 4000 engineers responsible for maintenance of 260 units of the company practice of walkouts, for seven weeks.

If the company minimizes the facts explaining that stoppages of one or more hours that are 50 to 100 people, the impact on traffic is nonetheless real. According to Le Parisien, Aujourd'hui en France, long flights and medium-haul flights from Paris-Charles de Gaulle accuse each day delays of 15 to 20 minutes.Management also recognizes that it is obliged to postpone the launch of a two-plane in the evening to morning. Orly airport and Toulouse are also affected.

And before the stalled negotiations on wage demands, the engineers are threatening to get tough tonight at 22 hours. "Delays are possible and we do not exclude some cancellations," said Air France AFP. Alert bulletins on traffic conditions are published to the attention of travelers on the website of the company.

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Greece: The judge left with insufficient

In general, policy makers and global economic welcomed on Friday the new aid package of nearly 160 billion euros to save Greece. In France, François Baroin, the Minister of Economy, and Valerie Pécresse, his counterpart in the Budget, were the first to emphasize the benefits of the plan this morning on RTL and RMC, respectively. It's then Prime Minister, Francois Fillon, who returned on the details of the agreement, and most importantly, who has estimated the cost to France at 15 billion euros. All three said they were very satisfied with this plan. But French opposition, meanwhile, remains critical.

• François Hollande (PS) The socialist candidate for president in 2012 called Friday for "late and poor" the new plan of aid to Greece, even if deemed "necessary."At the micro de France Info, François Hollande spoke of "relief": "The markets for some time will be appeased, especially since it is the States that will make the main effort." However, it refrains from any "complacent", saying the plan is insufficient. He deplored, among other things that the tax credit was set aside.

• Martine Aubry (PS) Another presidential candidate, former secretary of the Socialist Party also welcomed an agreement has been reached. But the problem is "whole" in terms of "building the government of the euro," she said in a statement. Thus, "Europe has risen almost a disaster: the collapse of the single currency by lack of political action against speculation," says she. Before qualifying as "unacceptable" that "the rating agencies weigh so much on the choices that affect half a billion people."And reiterates its desire to create a tax on financial transactions.

• François Bayrou (Modem) – The plan "will not" slammed the president of the Democratic Movement. He sees in this agreement a lifeline intended to give "relief to the Greek government." To him, other crises will undermine the euro area. It regrets in particular that the measures adopted to reform the banking sector of Athens were not extended to other members of the euro area. Before you lament that "the rules and structures of defense systems of the European currency" has not been established.

• Arnaud Montebourg (PS) – The agreement "will likely relieve pressure and gain more time," said the PS deputy and president of the General Council of Saone-et-Loire. It considers, however, that this plan is not a solution as "effective and fair" that he should have been.Among other things, he accuses him of "load" European taxpayers by saving the banking sector.

• Marine Le Pen (FN) The leader of the Front National sees in the plan a "very bad news." "Another 109 billion euros of public money spent for nothing," she exclaims, lambasting a euro area "already bankrupt." And renew its desire for a "concerted output of the euro", since the plan "sign the stubbornness of the ruling caste to want to save at least one euro become synonymous with debt, unemployment, and insecurity", asserts she said.

• Jean-Michel Baylet (PRG) – "The measures taken to stop midstream." But esteem is what the president of the Radical Left Party (PRG) in a statement Friday morning. If he sees in "solidarity with Greece" a "necessity", Senator regrets measures "purely technical"."Above all, the vicious circle of speculation is not stopped," he supports, before advocating "a tax on financial transactions of sovereign debt across the European continent."

• Pierre Laurent (PCF) – a decision that "protects the interests of major creditors, banks and insurance companies, and speculators." The national secretary of the PCF has blasted the new plan to help. "The relaxation of systems refinancing and redemption of public debt will not illusion," he criticizes in a letter to AFP. "The risk of widespread collapse of the system is real.The role of the European Central Bank is not redirected, hedge funds are not taxed, the idea of ​​a tax credit is abandoned, "he recites.

• Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (DLR) to the President of the Republic and Member of Standing of Essonne, the "arsonists" played with "firefighter" for "attempting to deceive public opinion still." He sees in this agreement that a "large patch", which "is a little more into debt without the French helping the Greeks." For him, "the cause of the collapse of the economies of south of France" is by no means settled.

Internationally, the reactions are positive

• Philipp Rösler (German Minister of Economy) It expressed satisfaction on Friday, the summit of the eurozone. But he warns that secondary market purchases by the European Financial Stability (EFSF) should be strictly controlled.He recalled that it is one of the cornerstones of the agreement announced Thursday, to the extent that it must allow support of Greece while avoiding spread of the crisis to other economies in the euro area.

• Jan Rostowski (Polish Minister of Finance) He also welcomed a "step in the right direction." "For the first time in years the euro area began to anticipate events," he adds in a micro national radio. Now, even if the rating agencies formally declared insolvency of Greece, "the problems of Athens, Ireland and Portugal are sufficiently well resolved so that it does not spread to other countries," he said.

• Evangelos Venizelos (Greek Minister of Finance) At a press conference Friday morning, the Minister welcomed an agreement that in his view a "great relief".For him, the country's banking system is so "guaranteed and insured." In addition, Evangelos Venizelos welcomed the emergence of a "European meeting" in his view, the decisions of the euro area provided a "clear and precise solution" against "asymmetric warfare [...] between the European Union and the markets. "

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New suicide attempt at the Ministry of Finance

Ill-being at work does not spare officials. A union representative FO Finance tried to end his day on Friday, in full meeting of the Health and Safety (HSC) on working conditions within the Directorate of Public Finance (DGFIP). Several witnesses reported by AFP, the union is currently under observation in hospital, would have exposed the direction the difficulties encountered in connection with his work, before swallowing the contents of a tube of medicine .An accident that occurs just days after the suicide of another officer DGFIP, and one month after that of a labor inspector of Direccte (Regional Business, competition, consumption, labor and employment).

The report of activity to be examined on Friday at HSC, 27 suicides were reported to the Ministries of Economy and Budget in 2010, against 25 in 2009 and 24 in 2008. The growing number of these tragic events, the unions denounced the growing unease of the staff concerned, who suffer in their ongoing reforms. "Those from the general revision of public policies (RGPP) were a source of tension for the agents. But with the planned job cuts still 3100 jobs this year – working conditions deteriorate significantly, "worries Aubursin Lawrence, General Secretary FO."It comes to not being able to respond appropriately to user requests," says her assistant, Frances Gauchet.

A view shared by the occupational health department. "Problems related to job cuts are being felt throughout the hierarchy. This situation is not unique to the Ministry of Finance is now characteristic of the entire administration, "said one doctor. A fact made more difficult for agents to manage the discomfort in the workplace has long been taboo in the public service. For example it is extremely rare for a suicide to be recognized as an accident, unlike the private sector. But progress has been made so far in recent years. "There is now a real awareness of managers and the top hierarchy, the court doctor.A reflection on the organization is conducted, training frameworks in place … This is progress, even if these efforts are undoubtedly effective forced. "

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Facebook declined in North America

Endtime, accident or simple miscalculation? The latest results are already hearing from Facebook debate. Produced by the research department of the information website Inside Facebook – Facebook is independent of the company itself – these statistics indicate that the most famous social networks would decline among Internet users in North America. Facebook has lost 6 million users in the United States between April and May, and 1.52 million in Canada. The community site will now respectively 149.4 and 16.6 million active members.

Based on his own analysis tool, Inside Facebook has also found a small erosion of over 100,000 active users, markets UK, Norwegian and Russian. Box of 687 million active members worldwide, Facebook has however continued to rise over the period.Drawn by Brazil, Mexico and India, the social network has expanded by nearly 12 million Internet users.

Other alerts

Inside Facebook remains cautious about the meaning of these figures. "We're going supervision is closely to see what trends emerge over the long term, note the service. Bugs in the Facebook advertising tool and we get this information, seasonal changes, such as for studies, and other factors can influence short-term figures on a month and hide what is really happening. "

It is also not the first time that analysts observed a drop in speed at Facebook in the U.S.. Last March, the Institute of audience measurement Comscore noted a slowdown in the growth of Facebook in the United States. In April, Nielsen had warned about a decline in time spent by users on Facebook.Farther still, Nielsen had been a decline of 5% of Facebook users in the United Kingdom in early 2008! Explored by 8.5 million UK Internet users then, the social network now boasts over 29 million.

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Greece: Restructuring considered inevitable and frightening

Click on the thumbnail to enlarge the graphic.

While European leaders seek to reassure financial markets by saying that Greece's debt will not be restructured, some strategists say the opposite. "To get out of financial crisis plan which moved the European countries, Greece should be restructured" hard, "said Christophe Donay, chief strategist at Pictet & Cie. In other words, Europe must draw a line under some of Greece's debt-what I call a partial-defect, while recapitalizing banks recorded losses due to restructuring. "

However, the solution currently under discussion at EU level aims to do everything to avoid a "credit event" on the Greek debt, that is to say a default. It is thus considered a new loan to pay 60 to 65 billion euros by 2014.The private sector would also be involved, banks are encouraged to continue investing in the Greek debt to the tune of 15 to 20 billion euros.

"But by giving more money to Greece, Europe or the private sector maintain the regime crisis," says Christophe Donay. "Reading the financial markets on the debt of European countries has changed. Until then, they adopted an accounting approach. In other words, they wondered how Europe should pay to save a troubled country. Today, they wonder whether the European countries generate enough growth to pay off their debts to five or ten years. "

45 years to meet the Maastricht

For Strategist Pictet, the conclusion is clear: the growth rates of financially troubled countries (Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain) are insufficient to finance their debts payday loans.Thus, Greece, Ireland and Portugal are expected to show annual growth of 21%, 13% and 8% in ten years to achieve a debt / GDP ratio of 60% as required by the Maastricht criteria. And if one was considering realistic annual growth rate (2%), it would take 45 years to Greece to meet this criterion and 30 years of debt to Ireland. "It is not clear that financial markets are waiting so long," concluded Christopher Donay.

Time is the right thing yet to the euro zone, according to Anton Brender, Chief Economist at Dexia AM. "Lack of Greece, alone, does not pose a problem in itself," he said. But such an event is likely in the current fragility of other countries in the periphery, causing a phenomenon of contagion.If Greece fails, why not also Ireland or Portugal, who also receive assistance from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, will wonder when the markets.

Beyond even this group of countries at risk, "there is a risk of transmission of the crisis countries such as Belgium, Italy and Spain," continues the economist. "You have to give time to the latter, especially, to leave the area of ​​infection by standing on a stable trajectory of debt reduction", defends Anton Brender. For this, one must combine austerity and growth, two goals are incompatible in the short term.

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DSK's arrest revives the debt crisis in Europe

While the Director General of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was charged with attempted rape and arrested in the U.S. yesterday as investors worried about the turn that will take the debt crisis in the euro area, especially in Greece. The indictment of Dominique Strauss-Kahn ally of Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou, arrived in effect at the worst time for Athens. The IMF chief would have had to go in Berlin on Sunday and meet Angela Merkel to discuss a possible new aid to Greece, who won the spring of 2010 using a 110 billion euros, 30 billion from the IMF.This meeting was to take place on the eve of a meeting of the Eurogroup, the Monday night and Tuesday in Brussels, with the main discussions at the agenda of the financial problems that resurface Greece for several days and plaguing the markets, concerned about the risks of bankruptcy of Greece, and the possible contagion to other countries of the euro area.

The IMF will be well represented at the meeting of the Eurogroup, the deputy general manager of operations, Nemat Shafik, who was missionnée to attend. But analysts say the IMF's support to Greece is not as steadfast as Dominique Strauss-Kahn took the reins of the institution.Thus, Eswar Prasad, an analyst at the Brookings Institution told the antenna Bloomberg: "The assumption was that as Dominique Strauss-Kahn remained at the head of the IMF, the institution has not dropped in Europe and continue to support the continent. But the departure of Dominique Strauss-Kahn casts doubt on the intentions of the IMF. "

The IMF board will meet on Monday

Immediate consequence of these doubts, the euro fell to 1.4056 dollars in Tokyo Monday morning, 1.4108 against the dollar in New York Friday night. Against the yen, the European currency eased to 113.61 yen against 113.99 yen.However, shortly after after the opening of financial centers in Europe, the single currency has regained some color, displayed a very slight increase, to 1.4131 dollar.

For its part, the IMF has tried to be reassuring, saying yesterday that he remained "fully functional and operational," after stating that John Lipsky, IMF number two, will the Interim Director General of the institution the time required. The institution must meet its board of directors on Monday to decide the fate of its president at its head.Originally scheduled yesterday the appointment was postponed, the council waiting for new developments to make its decision in this situation that observers deemed "not simple".

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