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Presidential in major cities Paris | Leeds | Lyons | Toulouse | Leeds | Sheffield | Liverpool | Bordeaux | Lille

It is wrong to believe that May 1st is "traditionally" non-political in France! Since the first observance of Labor Day in 1891 in the Hexagon – which ended in a shootout by 9 victims in Fourmies (North) -, the protests have always been exploited politically. Including the left, which long ago found a way to fight "big capital". It was in Paris in 1889, at the meeting of the Second Socialist International, as of May 1 was chosen to celebrate Labour Day. The idea came from Raymond Lavigne, an elected socialist Bordeaux. Other collusion, Marshal Pétain decreed in 1941 the statutory holiday of May 1st "Labor Day and national harmony" on a proposal from René Belin, a former leader of the Communist wing of the CGT became Minister of Labour.

For ten years he has not had a chance without the left calls its members to inflate union marches to protest against the political right. In 2003, to oppose the Fillon reform of pensions in 2008 for the first year of Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee, in 2009 against the crisis response

. Between the two towers

Recovery attempts have been such that the union leaders had to restrain the demands of socialist leaders credit score. As in 2010, full pension reform Woerth: Bernard Thibault and François Chérèque had banned members of the staff of PS to march alongside them. A compromise had been reached by organizing a photo during the transition, at a street corner, union leaders. It would have been unrealistic to imagine that in 2012, which falls on 1 May as in every election between the two towers, it could be otherwise. It is only up a notch. The dikes were shattered, and the CGT find nothing wrong with the proposal of Jean-Luc Melenchon to manifest to him. And for good reason.

This will be a year on Tuesday that its leader has taken the field against the reelection of the head of state. On 1 May 2011, on the set of "Grand Jury RTL-Le Figaro-LCI," Bernard Thibault had first confessed that he would not, personally, that Nicolas Sarkozy makes a second term. A statement that had surprised on the day of Labor Day, supposedly, "by tradition" apolitical.

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In 2018, there will be two newcomers in the Parisian sky: two all-glass towers whose upper portion is tilted in wave form. Achievement of 500 million euros by Jean Nouvel and funded by an investment fund Quebec, Ivanhoe Cambridge, and an American, Hines.

Specifically, this set will find its place in the ZAC Seine Rive Gauche, the area is being completely remodeled, close to the BNF (Bibliothèque nationale de France) in the thirteenth arrondissement. The first skyscraper peak at 231 m with 38 floors. His little brother will reach 115 meters, 24 floors. Clearly, these IGH (tall buildings) will be much lower than the highest tower of France, First (231 meters and 50 storeys), inaugurated in Defence in May 2011.

"Our city should not become a museum city"

But these skyscrapers, which will be occupied by offices and a hotel, have a symbolic value. They will mark the return of the towers in Paris after a long wait. With their design on tile anti-friendly design and unimaginative, high-rise buildings built in the 1970s (Montparnasse tower, towers along the Seine and the Olympics in the thirteenth arrondissement) had disgusted the people of this type of construction. "We decided to rebuild the towers in Paris because land is scarce and must be used to best effect and because our capital must not become a museum city," argues Anne Hidalgo, first deputy mayor of Paris in charge of urbanism. This policy does not unanimously. The Greens, for example, are opposed.

However, these two skyscrapers of Jean Nouvel announce other. In 2016, a tower of 160 meters and 40 floors, designed by architect Renzo Piano to house the TGI (High Court), should be delivered to the Batignolles in the seventeenth arrondissement. If the project is proceeding normally, Triangle tower installed Porte de Versailles in the fifteenth district would be delivered in 2017. "And we have three other projects of a turn in the thirteenth arrondissement, on the same area as the skyscrapers of Jean Nouvel," said Hidalgo.

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Taxpayers can breathe: the local tax rates should not increase this year. Tax notices will arrive in mailboxes this fall only. But local officials, who had until April 15 to vote on their budgets, have made their decisions. "Overall, the mayors chose not to raise rates in 2012 of the housing tax and property taxes on both, on the frame and the non-built" summarizes Laurent Philippe, President of the variety right to the Finance Committee Association of Mayors of France (AMF). Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Lille, Grenoble, Nantes, Nice, Rennes or Bordeaux opted for stability in 2012. As medium-sized cities like Perpignan, Orléans or direction. Communes of Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris, and Chatillon-sur-Seine, in Burgundy, has even dropped their local taxes! Departments follow the same path. "The majority of councils in 2012 froze the property tax rate on the frame. And most of those who did have increased moderately, between 1% and 2%, "says one to the Assembly of Departments of France (ADF). Among the few above this low water we find the Maine-et-Loire (rate increase of 5.1%) or the Haute-Garonne (2.8%)

But this apparent wisdom must not forget two things. On the one hand, the housing tax and property taxes are the product of the rental value of housing by a tax rate, which is voted by local councilors. The leasehold basis, they are indexed annually at the national level. For 2012, the parliamentarians decided a 1.8% increase (from 2% in 2011, 1 payday loans.2% in 2010 and 2.5% in 2009). Result, local taxes paid by households will increase by 1.8% where the tax rates of the department and the municipal block are stable.

Later in the rigor

However, in municipalities having decided to increase the rate of 1% tax bill will rise by 2.8%. On the other hand, the lull follows the fiscal shock in previous years. Newly elected in 2008, mayors and councilors have "benefited" from the beginning of their mandate to fill the coffers. Paris and has increased its local tax rates of 9% in 2009 and 8% in 2010. In Nice, the increase was as high as 14.8% in 2009. The Perpignan have been put to them in 2010 (+8%) and 2011 (+4%). The approach of the 2014 elections produced the opposite effect. "Elected officials will do everything to not raise taxes until the election" said Philippe Laurent.

The climate has changed in local communities. Transfers paid to them by the state were frozen in 2011 and declined slightly in 2012. Bank credit is harder to obtain. After years of massive hiring, operating expenses slowed (+2.4% in 2011). Departments will reduce their investment in 2012 for the third consecutive year. Nicolas Sarkozy wants to go further and impose discipline in the regions, counties and cities with more than 30,000 inhabitants not to replace a retiring on two of their agents. Francois Hollande and if does not want a "two", he advocates a stabilizing state transfers.

"If we do not respect the line to reduce our deficits and our debt to the minute interest rates will rise." Wednesday, Nicolas Sarkozy has gone a step further in the dramatization. After Francois Fillon, who suggested Tuesday that a hint of victory would boost Francois Hollande attacks against the euro area, the president candidate has warned against any slippage in the path of fiscal consolidation.

To raise the specter of an uncontrollable ascent rates, the current majority is based on digging for a few days the gap between interest rates ten years French (2.93% on Wednesday) and German ( 1.79%). At 114 basis points, after reaching 135 points Tuesday, this spread has actually widened over 30 points in a month.

Should we see a sign of growing distrust of markets in anticipation of a victory for the left, and expect a speculative attack against France after the second round? If the debate on this subject undoubtedly grows, nothing concrete has yet support this thesis. "The widening gap in interest rates between France and Germany is primarily due to lower rates to ten years German, while at the same time the French rate increase very little," said Patrick Jacq, BNP Paribas. In fact, France borrowed Wednesday cheaper than January 1 – the rate at ten years then stood at 3.20%. At the height of the crisis in the euro area, last fall, the OAT to ten years had reached a yield of 3.70% and the gap with Germany was around 190 points. The position occupied by Francois Hollande favorite in the presidential polls did not even affect the bond markets.

The fact remains that, beyond political considerations alone, the French debt will find itself under strong pressure in the coming days. Several factors will combine. The first is technical. As of Monday, April 16, the derivatives market Eurex will boost the marketing of futures contracts on the OAT need a personal loan with bad credit. Some see an opportunity for traders to speculate on France. "The danger is actually involved as a hedging tool transformed into an instrument of credit risk management," says Patrick Jacq. In other words, that some operators are betting on a French credit event.

Community constraint

Precisely, the second is the threat to a likely downgrade of France by Moody's, which can occur anytime during the next four weeks. On this theme, moreover, that the Socialist candidate responded to the attacks of the UMP: "If there was loss of triple A, is due to the left or right because of?" , asked Francois Hollande in response to declining rating by Standard & Poor's mid-January.

But the main constraint to be exercised on the French debt will be at the community. By coincidence, in the days following the second round, the European Commission must publish its report on the growth prospects of French public finances. However, this report will not consider the program of President-elect. "There is a risk that this be interpreted by markets as a distrust of the new president," worries do we camp in the Netherlands. In fact, it is on structural reforms of the future government that markets deem the French debt. "The benchmark in Europe now, it's Mario Monti and his reform of the labor market," says a senior European official. From this point of view, Francois Hollande is a real risk, arguing such measures as hiring officials or the questioning, even partial, of the pension reform.

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According to information from latribune.fr, Chinese investors close to power would be interested to buy four luxury hotels in Paris, currently on sale, and pass under another brand. Be included among them the Hotel Napoleon, located near the Arc de Triomphe.

Of the three other hotels in sight, one would be part of those whom the investment fund Starwood Capital is selling. He said it would be seller, in Paris, the Concorde Lafayette, the Concorde Saint-Lazare and the Hotel du Louvre. The U.S. group is not confirmed nor denied.

These potential acquisitions by Chinese would be given a new upheaval in the Parisian hotel that lives right now. Starting this summer, the Crillon close to work, closely followed by the Ritz cash advance loan no fax. The Plaza Athénée, he decided to postpone its work. Needed a facelift after arrival on the market of new facilities, new or renovated, the Royal Monceau (Qatar), the Shangri-La and Mandarin Oriental, who aspire to the title of "palace".

Two other luxury hotels are coming on the market and confirm the increased presence of Asians in the small world of luxury hotels in the capital: The Peninsula Paris, the first hotel chain in Europe, Hong Kong MSM and the White Horse, LVMH.

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Unions of La Poste have been heard. Rocked by three suicides in six months, the postal group, which employs 240,000 people, has taken the measure of social malaise that reigns within its walls. Its CEO, Jean-Paul Bailly announced Monday "adjustments" in the reorganization under way in the business. However, he rejected the idea of ​​a six-month pause in the restructuring of the branch post, as was mentioned the Sunday newspaper this weekend. "Adaptation of the company can not stop. It does not take a break: some projects will continue, others may see their schedules relaxed, "he said in a statement.

Jean-Paul Bailly has also stressed the importance of continuing the "cycle of listening" started last week and announced a "great dialogue to improve social cohesion" in local and national levels, until 15 September. Parallel negotiations should also lead to a "package of concrete measures by April 30." The Post decided, also, to extend by six months the deployment of employee ownership, a project which met recently to outright union opposition. Finally, Jean-Paul Bailly has appointed a "mediator of work life," a position entrusted to his chief of staff, Dominique Blanchecotte.

Calendar of crisis accelerated

The Post had already accelerated its timetable for ending the crisis last week, after the suicide, March 11, a part of the group in Britain. In a folder left behind, this forty, who had been off long illness since November and was found hanged at his place of work in Brittany, had denounced a hard three years from its hierarchy. This was the second suicide in Breton Post in ten days. February 29, Jeremy Buan, a senior of 28 years, had committed suicide by jumping from the top floor of La Poste in Rennes, in the Ille-et-Vilaine. He too had reported his "outstanding work" in a letter released by his partner. Immediately, the Post Office had opened on Tuesday for talks with the unions on "health and welfare at work", promising that "proposals" would be made "before summer" make quick cash.

The measures announced today should therefore satisfy the unions who denounced social climate "anxiety" since the suicide last September of a 52-year employee who was, also, défenestrée the fourth floor of the financial center of the 15th arrondissement in Paris. "This situation is unfortunately not unique to the post office," said Antoine Le Séguillon this week, a union representative GSC in Figaro.fr. "And it is not unique to Britain," he said hoping that the leadership would engage quickly "concrete actions".

Action plan against erosion mail

Faced with the erosion of its mail business, which it considered that the volumes would collapse by 30% over 2008-2015, the Post Office had drawn a new plan in 2009. Jean-Paul Bailly had emphasized that this branch should "reinvent themselves" by offering new services. Gradually, the schedules of post offices have been extended throughout France, robots have been installed to reduce waiting times for customers and, last September, The Post has completely redesigned its line of mail.

A strategy that has "paid off", welcomed the group during the presentation of its annual results on March 8. While lower volumes continued with a decrease of 3%, after falling 3.3% in 2010, the mail business recorded a turnover stable at EUR 11.5 billion (+ 0.3%), more than half of the total activity of La Poste. But for the unions, these good results have been costly to employees. According to the CGT, it was obtained "at a price of 10,091 job cuts" and an increase in sick leave.

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1040 new aircraft worth $ 145 billion. This, according to the latest Airbus market research, the need for airlines in India in the next twenty years. Of these, the vast majority of planes (860) will be ordered to meet the growth in air traffic – to + 7.2% per year, it is already growing faster than the average in Asia (5.9%) . In total, the current fleet will more than triple to 1080 devices.

According to Airbus, the airline purchases will be predominantly (646 copies) on medium-haul aircraft type A320 and A320 Neo (version remotorisée). It to meet soaring domestic traffic should move quickly on a rate of 10% per year, which will make India one of the strongest markets in the world. The European manufacturer estimates that the market for 308 long-haul A350-type and 66 copies of the ultra-high capacity aircraft type A380.

Two giant orders

Airbus hopes to win a beautiful place in this promising market. Already, the European manufacturer claims "70% market share of new orders," his "ambition is to retain its leadership in the Indian market." To support its strategy to win business, Airbus has established local partnerships for forty years. It is manufactured locally A320 passenger doors, his best-seller. It is also recruiting Indian engineers in its Engineering Center opened in 2006 in Bangalore. The manufacturer employs 270 in total and has to hire another 180 by 2014.

Airbus' strategy has paid off. In 2011, the manufacturer has scored a major coup by winning two giant commands from Indigo (180 A 320 150 of Neo) and Go Air have ordered that, between them, 252 units.

Two threats

But the clouds on the horizon. On the one hand by the poor health of major customers such as local Kingfisher.Depuis his birth in 2005, the company has never made any money – it lost $ 90 million in the third quarter of fiscal year – and has accumulated a debt of $ 1.3 billion. Kingfisher international flights still canceled Wednesday, postponed delivery in 2014 of A 380 and ordered it does not exclude cancellations. In total, current orders are of 32 A320s, 20 A330 long-haul, long haul lonq five A350s and five A380 super-jumbo. The company promises tonight released a recovery plan within two to three days.  

Moreover, the implementation of the carbon tax by the European Union in January, also poses a threat to aircraft orders. Just as Beijing has frozen the purchase of 45 Airbus A 380, including 10 of its airlines, New Delhi is opposed to this tax. India may decide to retaliate. It threatens to bar its airlines to fly to Europe.

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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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