Sundial of world news

LE FIGARO. – What are the priorities for action at the beginning of five-year term?

Jean-Hervé Lorenzi. – There are some major issues to be addressed, regardless of the choices made for the French president. First, the prospect of giving in Europe. Let me explain: there must be a stronger coordination to balance growth models. This is the theory of locomotives; the country the less constrained, namely Germany, must release the brakes a little. For its consumption is a little stronger – its economy is mainly based on exports – it must distribute a little more to its employees. The industry unions are negotiating wage increases important, it will have to be accelerating. All other countries will benefit.

We must then, in one way or another, build on the strength of our youth. Today, public transfers contribute massively oldest populations. Levers to create a genuine youth policy are needed.

And on the forehead of public finances?

Must obviously stay the course that was announced (back to 3% public deficit in 2013) and make great efforts to achieve this. However, I think we should stop the mechanical reduction of public spending. Give responsibility to government for whatever it is they that determine the sources of savings seems a much more effective reform.

In addition, we must put our whole flat tax system, including the CSG include in income tax. This will stop saying that half of French people do not pay taxes!

What are the pitfalls that the new government should avoid?

Too much tax businesses, real wealth creation in our country. Beware, do not have an inaccurate view of the profitability of French firms. Companies, including the CAC 40, have little room. INSEE recently reminded us that the margin of the French non-financial corporations fell in 2011 to its lowest level since 1985, to 29.1%. That's why they do not invest and does not create jobs. It is also because of the problem of profitability that our businesses do not grow and that the Hexagon has only 1200 midsize (ETI), where it would need at least 5000.

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

Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook have better watch out. The French presidential candidates are determined to stop tax evasion which these American giants of the Internet are guilty by repatriating their revenues in France to countries like Ireland or Luxembourg, where tax companies is softer.

In their profession of faith addressed to the Digital Collective of digital players, Nicolas Sarkozy as Francois Hollande promised to introduce fiscal measures to impose American groups as their French competitors in the Hexagon. "We will favor the European way (…) but we also work with a national solution," said the Socialist candidate as well. Specifically, it is to negotiate the "establishment virtual stable" at European level even with the OECD and to use the short term, to "complete business cycle" that can be considered as localized in France transactions of a company headquarters abroad. Both solutions also contained in the program menu of digital Nicolas Sarkozy, who wants "a fair taxation system in France and Europe." These tools would produce more revenue than the proposed "Google tax" championed by Senator Philippe Marini UMP, limited him to online advertising revenues.

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Very offensive, Eric Leclerc, head of site leparisien.fr, stated flatly: "In 2007 we were in cabbages, with 300,000 unique visitors per month. Today we have peaks at 5.6 million. ".

National information site highly leveraged local info, leparisien.fr is a special case. 74% of its visitors live outside the Ile-de-France. It is therefore the first and by far, in attendance among the sites of the regional daily press, with 38 million total visits, according to OJD. "Our strength is responsiveness, explains Eric Leclerc. Once an event of national scope is identified, it sends reporters then fed into the site every minute. "

The Battle of the hearing, everyone is set. In the footsteps of their fellow Ile, sites in regions learn to boost their traffic, high growth in recent years. Ouestfrance.fr, which generates 45% of its traffic outside its coverage area, also focusing on the hot news, the "breaking news" and the video. The hearing ladepeche.fr out of the Midi-Pyrenees region reached 36%.

The events taking place in regions which detonate hearings fast payday loans. Thus, the case Merah ladepeche.fr allowed to reach over 12 million visits, as many as ouestfrance.fr. And the day after the election of Miss France in Brest, on December 4, the hearing on letelegramme.com reached 290,000 visits.

More services

The next battle is the pay info. Ladepeche.fr is not the only site to clear this minefield. "We do not expect to be profitable to invest," said Fabien Charmetant letelegramme.com support the site, which, as lavoixdunord.fr, began to form bases of loyal readers online and then look to monetize content.

The big question is which. If free access to information is an unavoidable, media groups know that the information value-added will have a future where users have been réhabitués to pay. In the short term, the safest path is to create more services, that, by their proximity to natural, local newspapers are able to do. Even if they have to relearn this role in a highly fluid technological environment.

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The egg becomes a scarce commodity. Since the entry into force on 1 January of a European directive amending the conditions for laying hens, egg production in France fell 18% in mid-March, after falling 10% in 2011 . "About 5% of farmers have failed to comply with standards on time and no longer have the right to produce," says the National Committee for the Promotion of the egg (CNPO). At the abeyance of some poultry houses, plus the time needed for hens, very prone to stress, to adapt to their new environment and get back to spawn, the producers note. Other countries are affected, such as Spain, Italy, Germany or the UK. In total, Europe suffers from a deficit of 200 million eggs a week.

Faced with this shortage, manufacturers of biscuits, cakes and pasta are worried. They are now buying their eggs at prices 66 to 100% higher than a year ago. "Supply is a real problem," said Romain Nouffert, Managing Director of Lesieur, the French number one edible oil, which provides an increase of 5 to 6% of the price of mayonnaise. A fear shared by Philippe Godard, responsible for the development of the Business Federation of French baking and pastry (FEBPF). "The proportion of eggs in the total composition of revenues may represent 15 to 30% of the total, depending on the product," he says. "The cost may no longer be acceptable or even tolerable, if the rise continues, especially as it adds to the high price of durum wheat," is alarmed, for his part, Christine Petit, Secretary General Union of Industrial Pasta Manufacturers of France (SIFPAF), who represents Lustucru Pastacorp.  

Denouncing "the inertia of the European authorities," the industry is calling for urgent action, particularly for the import of egg products. "If the situation continues, some companies at risk of bankruptcy in four to six months," warns the FEBPF and SIFPAF, associated with the manufacturers of Biscuits and Cakes France, the Union of Bakery crispy and chewy and the Association of food companies developed (ADEPALE) poor credit personal loans. This sector includes more than 104,000 direct jobs in France for a turnover exceeding € 18.3 billion.

The French could pay the bill

The equation is further complicated for manufacturers that they can not pass on the soaring prices of the egg on the shelves, being bound by contracts with the annual distribution. "When you know that 90% of cookies are sold in supermarkets and hypermarkets, we measure the challenges of this situation," says Philippe Godard. Distribution, however, considers that this crisis is temporary. "Our goal is to preserve the purchasing power of consumers and ultimately for the entire industry, sales volumes of these products in store," says Mathieu Pecqueur, agriculture and quality director of the Federation of Commercial and distribution (FCD). "Manufacturers have certainly been integrated into the negotiations completed in late February the rising cost of egg production, we see that since the end of 2011," he adds. From last year, in fact, farmers were already experiencing an increase in wheat and corn used to feed chickens.

One day or another, however, the French should bear the brunt of this crisis of the egg. "The impact on the labels will, in theory, since the momentary during the egg will soon recede," said Charles Pernin, head of nutrition and health issues at the consumer organization CLCV. "Unfortunately, the shelf prices rarely return to normal," he adds. Ultimately, the French can always follow the latest fashion: invest in a hen to produce their own eggs and thus continue to make cakes.

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France is already the "spoils" of foreign tourists, with 77 million international visitors in 2010, according to World Tourism Organization (WTO). And to remain so, she can count on its approximately 50,000 religious buildings (monasteries, abbeys, cathedrals, churches, synagogues, mosques, etc ….) that attract more and more tourists, especially during holidays such as Easter or All Saints . But not only. "There is definitely a trend in favor of deep spiritual tourism," says Geraldine Bale, president of the association Sanctuaries Cities in France, which includes 15 sites of pilgrimage including Lourdes, Mont Saint-Michel, Chartres, Lisieux or Vézelay ( Yonne). The increase in attendance of these sanctuaries is stable for several years, the range of 5 to 10% per year depending on the site.

The Sanctuary of Lourdes. Photo Credits: Richard VIALERON / Le Figaro

Vivendi confirmed Monday, after market, the departure of Frank Esser, CEO of SFR, revealed by Le Figaro. This departure will be effective from the end of the week. Jean-Bernard Levy, CEO of Vivendi, this function takes live indefinitely. No other redesign teams SFR is expected. The announcement of a smooth transition reassured the 10,000 employees of SFR, where the announcement of the departure of Frank Esser, who presided over the destiny of the group for twelve years, has been a bombshell.

Vivendi wants to take the time to find a new boss for its subsidiary SFR, a pivotal moment in its history. Greatly shaken by the arrival of Free in the mobile sector, Vodafone is obliged to rethink its economic model. And why the research group "rare bird". Several names of potential candidates circulate: Bertrand Meheut (current CEO of Canal +), Thierry Breton (CEO of Atos), Didier Quillot (former CEO of Lagardère Active), Michel Combes (CEO Vodafone Europe), Gilles Pelisson (ex- Accor CEO) and Jacques Veyrat (Direct Energy) … But none is needed.

One thing is certain, the chosen one will have a profile of "cost killer" while SFR expects a decrease of 12% to 15% of its EBITDA margin in 2012 and Jean-Bernard Levy said at the Vivendi earnings presentation in early March, the need to "tighten the bolts." The future head of SFR should be able to reassure financial markets, while the declining profitability of SFR weighs on Vivendi. The stock has lost 17% since the beginning of the year.

The departure of Frank Esser was decided Friday afternoon during a supervisory board of Vivendi, and presented Monday at 5:00 p.m. in the Board of SFR. It does not seem to be a coup as often in the wars of succession, but a decision by mutual agreement. Friday, same day that his fate was sealed, Frank Esser was attending a lunch with the entire executive of Vivendi, in which Jean-Rene Fourtou, director of Vivendi, and Jean-Bernard Levy have sent him some very complimentary. Frank Esser, Mannesmann's German came (acquired by Vodafone), is indeed recognized and appreciated by both teams by his peers.

Free to adjust the face

But, before the onslaught of Free Mobile, it was essential to give new impetus to SFR, which lost 200,000 customers between 10 January and late February. "Jean-Bernard Levy knows SFR. We are confident in its ability to revitalize all appear the beginnings of a stabilization of the situation. After the initial excitement, Free began to experience a certain loss, "said a spokesman for Vivendi.

The task does not look easy. We'll have to cut some expenses without burdening the future. "In the hundreds of service developments underway at SFR, it will have to choose between those that are essential for the future and those who can be stopped, says an inside source. Always painful choices that force teams to redeploy réinternalisant projects that were previously outsourced to external service providers. "The suppliers and providers of SFR should be the first affected by this clampdown.

Add paid features

It will also have to rethink the positioning packaging opportunities. Free Mobile face, all operators have launched entry-level offerings, sold only on the Web at very aggressive prices. But where Bouygues Telecom, the first chopping last July, has managed to impose "B & You", followed by Orange with "Sosh" SFR has not really enticing with its brand "Red" launched in late September.

But offers low-cost, direct response to Free, are not the only priorities. The operators were able over time to all-inclusive packages (visual voicemail, MMS, mobile Internet …). We must now all unravel for a basic package comparable to that of Free, which you must add a number of services at extra cost. A vast perspective.

Cedric Mendes, head of recruitment of Colas.

Rarely have there been a fear of unemployment too high (one third of the French fear of being unemployed in the coming months) coincide with proposals also limited in terms of job candidates in the presidential election.

Apart from generation contracts (with uncertain effects) of Francois Hollande, antidélocalisation VAT (which will particularly benefit the jobs are not exposed to international competition) by Nicolas Sarkozy, or the prohibition of redundancies (fantastic in a global economy ) by Jean-Luc Melenchon, the impétrants at the Elysee do not shine with the inventiveness of their proposals. Everything happens as if in fact the only social issue of this campaign was beginning to worry about the plight of factory workers in difficulty: Lejaby, Petroplus, Photowatt, ArcelorMittal … to name those "lucky" to one of the 20 hours. So much so that outgoing President announced that a buyer or a command Unexpected unexpected, the Socialist candidate responds by passing a law requiring an industrial facility to the closing yield. Syndrome Jospin, powerless anger of employees in 2002 by Lu who accused him of doing nothing to save them, has been there

.

These employees are far from being the most deprived. From large groups who fulfill their obligations reclassification or revitalization (and often sign large checks start), they are part of the iceberg. Registration for employment center after a redundancy no longer represent each month that 2.9% of input patterns. Contrary to popular belief, their numbers fell 3.4% in 2011 to 14,000 per month. All also receive a contract security professional (CSP), ensuring a strengthened support and 100% of their net salary for a year.

This double "deluxe treatment" (media and procedural) for the CSD and interim would like to also benefit. First variable adjustment of the workforce in the companies they represent one third of entries each month at employment center (or 150,000 people) and are not entitled to a CSP in 15 experimental and employment areas. And, in an envelope limited to less than 20,000 contracts this year. 5 times less than for retrenched when they are 10 times more each month to bear the brunt of the crisis. In factories or elsewhere

.

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Sluggish start to the year for consumers. The French have reduced their spending by 0.4% in January, reports the INSEE. In December, consumption had fallen by 0.2%, a figure revised up 0.5 point. Compared to January 2011, consumption fell 2.2%.

Household spending fell in virtually all sectors. In particular, they continued to crumble in clothing (-2.3%), despite the sales and after falling 1.7% in December.

This is especially the collapse of automobile purchases by 7.6% in January from 2.8% in December, which sealed the figure released today. Registrations have also unscrewed 20.7% compared with January 2011. "Households may indeed have anticipated their purchases of cars face of tougher no-claims bonus on 1st January 2012," INSEE advance.  

Among the few sectors rising, the food recovers (1.4%), after declining steadily over the past six months. "This decline is expected to continue as households are turning to cheaper goods in shops cheaper", the BNP Paribas economists. Energy costs have in turn bounced (2%) with the return of cold. This trend should continue and thus provide some support consumption in February, economists expect Societe Generale CIB.

Rising unemployment and uncertainties related to the crisis in the euro area seem to continue to weigh on household spending. This traditional driver of French growth had stalled in 2011, dropping by 0.5% over the year.

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