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This is one of the heaviest penalties ever imposed in France for price fixing. The Competition Authority condemned Tuesday the largest producers of bagged flour French and German in total fines totaling 242.4 million euros.

As Le Figaro had revealed (read our editions of March 29, 2011), the institution has identified two antitrust cases, one involving French millers having agreed on prices, and the other a Franco-German cartel to limit to 15,000 tons, from 2002 to 2008, German exports in the Hexagon.

Flour France, sentenced to 8.3 million euro fine, and Axiane Milling, who scoop the most severe penalty (44 million), have decided to appeal. "We have taken note of the decision, which amazed us, said a spokesman Axiane. The penalty amount is disproportionate to the activities of the company, who made last year 167 million euros in turnover which only 15% correspond to the sale of flour in bag. "… ….. A first

This is the first case of this magnitude in the food industry. The Competition Authority has estimated that 11% of the costs to consumers. Moreover, it is the second time a consumer product is concerned by this affair. Last year, a cartel of manufacturers of detergents was sentenced to 361.3 million euros in fines. In both cases, this is a leniency application made by one of the protagonists who revealed the agreement.

"The Franco-German entente has been sheltered from competition German millers French, which enabled them to segment the market and respond with one voice to calls for major retailers such as discount stores," summarizes a spokesman for the Authority's view that the distributors were not aware of these practices.

The severity of penalties is due to the unprecedented duration of the agreement. In fact, since its inception in 1965, France Flour, owner of the famous brand Francine, leader in France, was at the heart of a system of understanding that allowed him to sell the output of its seven shareholders millers. "This is a transparent system of grouping that existed openly and everybody," protests Axiane Milling, one of its shareholders.

Considered a "false nose" Flour France was dissolved in mid-January and Francine brand was sold to one of its shareholders, Nutrixo. The Competition Authority should soon make its decision in another case involving the millers. This time it concerns the sale of bulk flour to bakers.

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For Pierre Chappaz, running a business is like managing a football team. "The coach sets the overall strategy, recruiting players, helping them to play as a team, while respecting their strong personalities," says the entrepreneur known for having co-founded Kelkoo. This is why Wikio, the company he founded in 2006 and renamed Ebuzzing meanwhile, made nine mergers and acquisitions since its inception.

Combines the latest in Ebuzzing BeeAd, the advertising agency specializing in online video, created by the founders of the music download site Beezik. When he met them, Pierre Chappaz was "immediately said, if these players could join our team, we would be able to win the European Cup," he writes on his blog.

Ebuzzing now specializes in communication on social networks – an analysis of conversations in the diffusion of video advertising – fabric and its offer of a new advertising format. BeeAd indeed offers users to watch a video ad to access media content. This model was initially tested on the platform Beezik, which allows downloading music for free provided you have clicked on a video advertising. "This will provide a complete solution of video and social networks to advertisers," said Bertrand Quesada, CEO and cofounder of Ebuzzing.

40 million

"We were approached by many groups for a takeover, but we wanted to keep moving. We had enough cash in reserve and good technological edge, said Jean Canzoneri, CEO and cofounder of BeeAd. Building on Ebuzzing, we opted for speed. "BeeAd will indeed be launched internationally through the network group Ebuzzing. Mid-April, the offer should be marketed in Italy, Germany, Spain and the UK.

To satisfy both parties, the transaction – the amount has not been revealed – based "largely on a share exchange," says Bertrand Quesada. BeeAd leaders become "shareholders and associates" of Ebuzzing. The system should generate 40 million euros in turnover in 2012 and doubled in a year. And that, not including revenue could be generated internationally by BeeAd. This expansion will be accompanied by 30 to 50 recruits. They will add to the 200 people working at Ebuzzing and 40 employees Beezik.

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Apple plays spoilsport. Tuesday night, while most manufacturers of tablets showed their latest Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, ​​the media were invited to attend the following week, the launch of the next iPad from San Francisco.

For four days, the electronics giants have yet done everything to make us forget the iPad and mark their difference. Two of them, Samsung and LG, have chosen to deliver their new tablets with a stylus, following HTC, which was launched in the last year in this niche. This accessory, which allows you to write or draw and more accurately on the screen, is rejected by Apple, who believes only the touch screen.

Much of the Samsung booth and was dedicated to the Galaxy Score, available in two versions. The smallest, launched in October, is midway between the tablet and smartphone (screen 5.3 inches diagonally) and can act as telephone. The new model, twice as large (10.1 inches), is a format closer to the iPad. Samsung will install software specifically developed for the stylus and a suite of creative software designed by Adobe.

LG, whose stand was a short walk from the Samsung, also gave a large place with a touch pad accompanied by a stylus. Also able to act as a (big) phone, the LG Vu takes a screen in 4/3 assumed to be more enjoyable to read books or magazines. Initially sold in South Korea, it will come with tools for professionals, facilitating note taking and annotation of web pages.

No innovation in displays

Apple's other competitors, who have not succumbed to the fashion of the stylus, for their part have chosen to focus on the graphics power against the iPad fast cash advance. Chinese Huawei and ZTE, prominent during the Barcelona show, presented every two shelves featuring quad-core chips, twice the current iPad. Asus has preferred him with originality Padphone, a laptop that can turn into a tablet or smartphone.

During the show, no manufacturer has, however, ventured into the field of screen resolution, where the iPad 3 is highly anticipated. The new Apple tablet should indeed be able to display twice as many pixels on the same surface, and achieve the same quality as the high-end smartphones. This type of screen, says "Retina display", is more complicated to produce, and therefore more expensive. It could cause supply problems iPad 3, as the site DigiTimes.

Apple's competitors have proposed no major advances in the software. They are in fact dependent on advances of Android, they do not control development. However, the system suffers from a lack of applications and is not yet as attractive as in smartphones, has recognized the head of mobile at Google, Andy Rubin. In two years he has sold 12 million Android tablets, against 50 million iPad. To reverse the trend, Google wants to encourage developers to write software compatible with all types of screens.

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"We will put patterns Florange unemployed by taking control of the plant." Edward Martin, representative of the CFDT EWC ArcelorMittal, wants offensive. The occupation of the site, scheduled for tomorrow, is a direct consequence of the extension until 30 June of the closure of two blast furnaces Florange, the last of Lorraine. "The direction we to understand that, barring a miracle, this closure would last all year," says Edward Martin.

For several months, the largest producer of steel has many announcements to reduce its production capacity. Spain, Belgium and France but also Romania and Czech Republic were affected. Today, only the blast furnaces in Liege never reopen. Other closures are for the moment, temporary.

A temporary measure reaffirmed to the minister, Eric Besson

Bourrier Hervé, President of ArcelorMittal France, reaffirmed that "temporary" to Eric Besson, Minister of Industry, last week. Employees such as trade unionists fear yet more than this closing becomes final. The clues that point in this direction are beginning to be numerous.

"A blast furnace is designed to run continuously, says an industry expert. It degrades when it is not the case. "The first blast furnace Florange is closed since June. The second since October. Investment and maintenance are reduced. Some were made late last year but "there is nothing for a month and a half" notes François Pagano, CFE-CGC delegate. "The industrial base is deteriorating, laments Edward Martin. With the cold, some lines broken. "Worse:" The founders began to be reclassified in the group. Leaders do not take it otherwise if they had close Florange. "

The recovery of orders has not changed all that

The recovery of orders failed to revive the plant. Aditya Mittal, CFO of ArcelorMittal, said on publication of results in 2011 that "shipments are much better than the fourth quarter of 2011, but we are still far volumes 2006, 2007 and 2008." What does surprisingly, these years being excellent.

Francois Pagano explains that "the business unit North, including Dunkirk, Florange, Benelux and Germany, recorded 3.7 million tons of orders for the second quarter of 2012 while its production capacity is 3.8 million . So the plants are running at 97% capacity. At this level, it would be possible to reopen Florange to avoid a potential bottleneck. "

Finally, the closure would be consistent with the group's strategy to focus on very large production units in coastline at Dunkirk and Fos sur mer in France and Bremen in Germany. The justifications for the closure of Liege seem perfectly applicable to Florange. "ArcelorMittal is considering a gain of 56 euros per tonne, which would be credited to the closure of Liege and transfer the production of slabs (Note: raw material for the manufacture of sheet metal) to Dunkirk," says the firm Laplace Council A study commissioned by the Walloon region. The forward gain is identical to Florange: "The leaders explain that ArcelorMittal bring slabs from Dunkirk saves 50 euros per tonne," confirms Francois Pagano.

With increased action "punch", although some have put Florange in the heart of the current election campaign. "Getting a formal commitment of a private company seems complicated," admits to the entourage of Eric Besson. A conclusion which adheres Francois Pagano whose only solution is to "convince Lakshmi Mittal's economic interest Florange".

"Ulcos" or last resort

All actors in the Lorraine steel cite Ulcos project, the acronym for "steel making process at very low CO2 emissions," as salvation for Florange. Launched in 2004, this is a program to find new techniques to produce steel with less carbon dioxide (CO2). Investments for carrying out are huge: 650 million euros! The French government has already pledged 150 million euros of funding. And Brussels could bring 250 million additional. ArcelorMittal leaders have vowed to launch Ulcos, and bring the balance of funding, if EU subsidies are granted.

Except that many obstacles have arisen in recent months. First techniques. The processes developed by Ulcos involve capturing and storing carbon. But experts are beginning to question this technique both for environmental reasons and efficiency.

Then the price of CO2 allowances collapsed in recent months, making plans to reduce CO2 emissions less urgent to implement. And nothing suggests that prices will go up quickly. In difficult economic times, as is currently the case, companies may be reluctant to invest in such technologies if there is no immediate financial implications.

Finally, there is little doubt that ArcelorMittal will decide to raise, or not, Florange on the basis of the only economic criteria. "The management of ArcelorMittal has told us clearly that Florange restarted if the market justifies it, and not only if Ulcos born," stated Michel Liebgott recently, area MP Florange.

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The opening of Sunday shopping has become a topic of this Friday's presidential campaign. Nicolas Sarkozy, the president now officially a candidate for reelection, took hold of the States General of Trade to revive a debate that has never really stopped since the adoption of the "law Maille". The Act of August 10, 2009 allows the Sunday opening of shops in some towns and tourist areas and hot springs and in some big cities. More generally, the Labour Code provides for the possibility for all stores to open five Sundays a year authorized by the mayor or the prefect.  

"If the French put their trust in me at the next presidential election, the first step that I will implement will be to continue the flexibilities already made with regard to Sunday opening of shops for you to adapt to changing lifestyles, "it said in the statement that was read by the Secretary of State for Trade, Frédéric Lefebvre. "Broadening the conditions for opening of shops on Sundays, giving you more freedom, it's growth for your business is employment for the French, it's purchasing power for your employees , is the strengthening of the tourist attraction that France is strong, "argued the head of state, resuming his campaign slogan. Already in 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy had placed Sunday working at the heart of his campaign, when he presented himself as the candidate of purchasing power and it boasted its famous slogan: "Work more to earn more" .

And since, traders remained dissatisfied. In his "Pact for the development of commerce", presented in November 2011 with the intention of being sent to the candidates in the presidential election, the Board of Trade of France (FPS) requested the opportunity for each merchant to open " freely from 10 to 12 Sundays a year ", even if his store is located" out of area tourism. " The association already put forward "changing lifestyles" and "ambition tourism in France" to justify its request. During sales in January, Frédéric Lefebvre assured that some foreign tour operators were programming does not weekend in Paris because their customers can not be done shopping.

"A little air"

The issue of Sunday opening is sized. With 730,000 businesses, trade accounts for 20% of private jobs in France and 10% of GDP. Its annual sales reached 1.4 trillion euros, said the FPS. However, the federation does not argue for an opening of "all the shops, every Sunday throughout France." "What we want is a relaxation, a little air," said its chairman Gerard Atlan, quoted by AFP. "The dealer should be there when there is revenue to do, when there is none, it closes."

Like Nicolas Sarkozy, the Socialist candidate Francois Hollande has taken hold of the subject. In a video broadcast on the same Estates General of Trade this morning, he says he will engage in "negotiations" on the issue "controversial" work on Sundays. Last date flowage in a parliamentary report prepared last November that voluntary employee to work on Sunday in the authorized areas was "not sufficiently guaranteed" by some companies. For Francois Hollande, it is to find "a balance between the rights of employees" and concern for traders to "respond to new forms of competition." First union to respond, the CFTC has regretted the "social choice" favored by Nicolas Sarkozy, according to the union, further open the way for the "hyper-consumerism."

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"Extremely aggressive." Thus, the Spanish Minister of Economy, Luis de Guindos, described the day before the announcement, the reform of the labor market. A long-awaited reform to lift the country from the spiral of unemployment, also pushed for weeks by the Union européenneet the IMF.

Spain, which displays the highest rate in Europe at 22.85%, passed the 5 million unemployed. If the explosion of the housing bubble has destroyed thousands of jobs since 2008, the failure of the labor market is also challenged. "The system is too much with a dual side highly protected permanent contracts, which are not conducive to improving productivity, and the other fixed-term contracts, very precarious," explicit Gayle Allard, IE Business School in Madrid.

The first part of the reform, presented Friday in the Council of Ministers, aims to reduce the cost of dismissal. The general allowance will be reduced from 45 to 33 days per year of service in the company. It may be reduced to 20 days for a troubled company, which links three semesters without profit. The compensation will also be capped at 24 months regardless of the employee's seniority. The reasons for entitlement to redundancy will also be expanded. The Conservative government wants to tackle the bleeding of youth unemployment that exceeds 48%.

Tax breaks for hiring

Decree-Law provides for the creation of a new permanent contract for an initial hiring of a young unemployed under 30 years. Businesses will benefit in this case a tax deduction of € 3,000 while the job seeker can accumulate 25% of his unemployment benefits with the salary for one year. Tax breaks, EUR 4500, are also provided for the hiring of long-term unemployed.  

The other priority for Madrid is to stop the use of fixed term contracts (CDD) repeatedly, very common in Spain, especially among youth and women. The CSD will be limited to two years. The aim is also to encourage training, another weakness of the country. Each employee should receive a quota of 20 hours.

If the Minister of Employment, Fatima Banez, welcomed "a historic reform" social unrest may still move up a notch. As protests intensified in regions against austerity widespread. "This reform will cost me a general strike", recently told the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy.

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After a series of accidents due to a falling elevator, with one death occurred Thursday in Paris, industry professionals warn of the lack of safety devices. "The safety of elevators is not effective," denounces Herve Lasseigne, president of the Federation of Independent Experts and Control Offices lifts (Fiebca).

Voted in 2003, the modernization plan, however, elevator provides that after three deadlines (2010, 2013 and 2018), all units of residential housing and office buildings should be standard.But, faced with the often high cost of work (between 5000 and 10,000 euros per lift for the first phase and up to 30,000 euros on average for work completed before July 2013), some owners are slow to meetings of the vote easy payday loans.

The delays are such that "15% to 20% of lifts (especially condominiums)," which should have been subject to new safety standards by the end of 2010, have not yet been upgraded, according to Fiebca. "The situation is very worrying, warns Herve Lasseigne, accident, this may have consequences in terms of civil liability or criminal, for condominium corporations," he says.

The upgrades are not a guarantee of safety. The many renovated elevators are dangerous because "treatments are often incomplete."

Since one or two years, the French no longer have to wonder whether they should go to a cash or a tax office when they have a tax problem. They now have a single contact. This is the most visible result of one of the largest state reforms undertaken since 2007: the merger of Taxation and the Treasury in a branch of public finance (DGFIP).

This is especially symbolic that this government has succeeded where the team Jospin failed to combine the two tax authorities. In a survey of the merger, commissioned by the Senate Finance Committee, the Court of Auditors said that the reform was carried out on time and that its success is "an achievement in change management."

But the Court also notes that the merger would have been cheaper. "All were first restructuring cost.The question is whether the bill was not too high, "said Philippe Marini yesterday, the president of the UMP Senate Finance Committee during a hearing of the protagonists of the case to the commission.

Between 2008 and 2012, 12,000 jobs have been removed to DGFIP. Despite this, the payroll has been stabilized in 2011 and decline only in 2012 to reach 4.95 billion euros. "From 2008 to 2010, the workforce was reduced by 3%, while the wage bill increased by 1%" Nicole Bricq summarized yesterday, the rapporteur of the commission PS. When asked by Le Figaro, Philippe Parini, the Chief of DGFIP, believes that this performance is good.But yesterday at the hearing, the Court judges were more skeptical.

209 million of additional costs

In the report following its investigation, the Court regrets that the general rule in the civil service, which means that half of the savings from job cuts to be redistributed in additional payments to agents, has been exceeded in DGFIP in 2010 ( 62 guaranteed approval cash advance loans.5% of redistribution) and 2011 (54.8%).

In detail, the Court expressed surprise that the merger premium of 350 euros per year, originally created for the sole agents affected by restructuring, has been granted in 2008 to all members of the DGFIP. Then it has been perpetuated from 2009 and then increased to 500 euros this year. Total cost from 2007 to 2012: 59.5 million euros.However, in addition to this premium, the agents of the DGFIP benefited from the harmonization of remuneration from the top.

"No merger can not be done with a harmonization of salaries to the bottom" replied yesterday a senior official of Bercy, noting that the harmonization alone had accounted for half of the 209 million additional cost of the merger.

"We take the fact of having paid the premiums," added Philippe Parini. "In total, over the whole period of the merger, from 2008 to 2012, we distributed to agents 52.3% of the savings related to job cuts. It is little more than the norm. Overruns in 2010 and 2011 and punctual and will be made up later, "he said in Le Figaro.

Senators of the committee members are themselves worried about the consequences of yesterday's job losses to DGFIP.They fear a decline in the quality of service.

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Creditor banks in Greece will have to accept losses "substantial" in the new bailout of the country, warned Saturday that the European Ministers of Finance. Last night, the central bankers of the euro zone had "agreed to say that we had to have a substantial increase in the contribution of banks" in the form of a depreciation of their claims, said the leader of European finance ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker.

According to diplomatic sources, the ministers agreed to effectively negotiate with the banks at a discount of "at least 50%" against a target of 21% decided on July 21 with the banking sector. They thus de facto endorsed the conclusions of an expert report which was presented by the troika of donor funds in Greece (EU, ECB and IMF).The paper believes that a discount of 50 or 60% hope to stabilize Greece without having to increase in the amount of gigantic international loans that have already been promised.

A "discount" is the term used in relation to the financial depreciation of the value of loans taken by creditors in this case private banks and investment funds that hold government debt. A discount of 50% borne by the private sector, the second program of financial support pledged July 21 to Greece, however, should be slightly revised upwards with government loans (Europe and IMF) to 114 billion euros, against 109 billion euros.To maintain the envelope of 109 billion euros unchanged, it would bring the discount to 60%, according to calculations by experts.

• Banks recapitalized to the tune of 100 billion euros

The question is whether the banks that have so far dragged its feet to give the pot, will accept a negotiated settlement does not pass through a default of Greece said "messy" serious consequences. "It's a negotiation s'entame," said Didier Reynders, Belgian Finance Minister, before a meeting with his colleagues throughout the European Union on Saturday. These discussions, held in Brussels with representatives of the Institute of International Finance (IIF), the banking lobby, "still, there is no agreement yet," said a source told AFP familiar with the matter.

In return for the effort required on the Greek claims, it is intended to recapitalize European banks to the tune of nearly 100 billion euros. The subject was Saturday in the agenda of the ministerial meeting. According to sources cited by Reuters, an agreement in principle was reached by European finance ministers on the recapitalization. European diplomats interviewed by AFP were less categorical in the late afternoon. "There is no agreement on the recapitalization, it gets stuck a little." According to one of these diplomatic sources, "Spain insists on having a comprehensive, not only on the recapitalization of banks but also on strengthening the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF). " On the other hand, "the ministers are trying to agree on the minimum capital."

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has proposed that banks reach a level of capital of 9% by mid-2012. A diplomat acknowledged that some countries in the viewfinder of the markets, like Italy, Spain or Portugal, feared that the recapitalization will further undermine public finances.

• The Fund will not support a bank

Moreover, the French proposal to grant a banking license to the Fund support the euro area (EFSF) so he can refinance with the European Central Bank "is no longer on the table," said Minister Dutch Finance Jan Kees de Jager. Only two options are being discussed to increase the firepower of the device, he told reporters Saturday.These two tracks on the agenda now that the mechanism acts as a partial insurance of the public debt of countries in difficulty or higher participation of the IMF to the device, according to a German government source. But there is "significant differences between countries" on the issue, said Jan Kees de Jager.

How to leverage the capacity of the EFSF was the main sticking point between Berlin and Paris at the approach of the EU summit. France, worried about its budget deficit and are "triple AAA" prefer tap into the existing European funds, starting with the ECB. Germany, also sensitive to the separation of powers as inflation risks, refuses anything resembling a crisis by printing money in Europe.France was not only to advocate the involvement of the ECB, arguing that this system worked very well in the United States or Great Britain. She was supported by Spain, Italy or Belgium.

The European Relief Fund currently has a lending capacity of 440 billion euros, part of which is already committed for Ireland and Portugal. This envelope is considered insufficient to prevent contagion of the debt crisis in countries as large as Italy and Spain, increasingly in the firing line of credit rating agencies.European countries negotiate so hard for weeks on the best way, via a "leverage" to multiply by up to five response capacity of the Fund's financial debt of fragile countries.

(With agencies)

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Intel against the current vogue. According to the worldwide microprocessor, the death of the PC (Personal Computer) in favor of smartphones and tablets is not announced.

Turnover of Intel blazed by 28% in the third quarter to $ 14.2 billion, for a net profit of 3.5 billion, up 17%. The strong increase is explained by the dynamism of chips for PCs, whose sales rose 22% to 9.4 billion. "Companies around the world support the purchase of PC. In addition, there is an upmarket laptops, "explains Stéphane Negro, CEO of Intel in France. Thus, the average selling price of a microprocessor increases, resulting in the margins of the group.

Activity remains the most profitable chips for servers, the mainframe computers used in particular to oversee a network of PCs.The demand for this class of machine is very high due to the construction of new data centers, conversion of companies in cloud computing (cloud computing) and scientific computing. Then, the next chip for servers is "twenty times more demand than that of the previous generation, at the same time," says Stéphane Negro easy pay day loans.

"Ultrabooks" second generation

In addition, one third of the growth of Intel, in the third quarter is attributable to acquisitions. The security software company McAfee and the modem division of German Infineon boosted sales of 1.1 billion. To support its growth, Intel will invest at least $ 10.2 billion to modernize its plants in 2011. This is a record for the group and probably for the entire sector information technology.Intel retool its plants to increase the density of transistors on each chip, reducing the burning characteristics and deploying a new production technology. Its development should be used in one year for the second generation of "ultrabooks" laptops, powerful and lightweight.

Paul Otellini, Intel's CEO, confirmed that in 2012, the group will finally chips used in smartphones and tablets. The stock has gained 4% yesterday.

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