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Despite a second half which was to fear the worst, business failures were flat last year compared to 2010 when they were increased by 20% between 2007 and 2009.

According to a study by Deloitte and Altars, 58,195 companies have experienced serious difficulties in 2011. A decrease of 1% compared to 2010. 18,518 were placed in receivership. 39,677 direct into liquidation.

These figures are significantly higher than pre-crisis, during the period 2000-2007. "The failure level is impressive," says Martine Rivet, magistrate from the Commercial Chamber of the Tribunal de Grande Instance, Strasbourg cited in the survey Deloitte-Altares.

Areas heavily affected are the retail, grocery stores and food processing. The building also continues to suffer. Companies that have the highest increase in defaults are those with less than six years of existence (31,813 procedures) and companies conducting more than 50 million euros in turnover. Geographically, most of the failures are concentrated in the Ile-de-France (20%) in Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur (11%) and in the Rhone-Alpes (10%). The momentum of the second half of 2011, 2012 promises to be difficult. In January and February, 10,889 companies were placed in receivership, liquidation or judicial safeguards against 10,294 in 2011 and 9724 in 2010 over the same period.

March, "the heaviest month"

Companies with more than 50 employees are the first victims with a 42% increase compared to January-February 2011. Mars will be a good barometer to know the trend of the year. "This is traditionally the heaviest month for the number of firms in difficulty," Thierry Millon analysis, design manager at Altares.

The crisis has sometimes served as a catalyst to speed falls predictable. Some companies in fact knew of the difficulties for several years, due to insufficient capital and a fall in profitability for a long time. Others could no longer compete with their competitors. "The competitiveness of the French economy needs to be asked," concludes Vincent Batlle, a partner at Deloitte.

In transport, many small companies have thrown in the towel, victims of declining sales, rising fuel prices and foreign competition. German companies have cut jobs in Alsace, where they had settled in the 1980s, to turn back to Germany. "These companies were looking for a cheaper production base and an opening on the French market. Today we are witnessing a counter-movement, "says Claude master-Maxime Weil, court administrator in Strasbourg. In Marseille, the commercial court only deals with records of small businesses because the industrial base has weakened.

The coming months could be very difficult for LBOs (leveraged buy-out) purchased with funds that are struggling to repay their debts.

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Al-Jazeera continues its sports rights market. The sports channel funded by Qatar has indeed acquired the rights for three years of the Spanish Liga. According to one expert dossier, the headquarters of al-Jazeera would not have hesitated to put the triple, or more than 20 million euro to carry the exclusive distribution of this competition previously held by Canal +. This new contract follows the co-buying last week in the Italian championship for three years. Canal + and al-Jazeera spent $ 10 million each. A few weeks ago, the chain announced Qatar had also redeem the Europa League, for an amount that would more than double the previous transaction. In all, this is currently a total budget of 260 million euros that Al Jazeera devoted to the purchase of sports rights.

This envelope is expected to rise significantly in the coming days. Industry players are in effect suspended the announcement of the purchase rights of the Euro 2012 football and Euro 2016 football. Today the negotiations between UEFA and the Qatari channel block on the number of games that the rights holder wishes to broadcast on free channels. Indeed, UEFA would like 19 games to be visible by the largest number, more than half of the competition. That does not want al-Jazeera, which until now has consistently doubled or tripled the amount of acquired rights. TF1 and M6 on their side made a direct offer to UEFA for trying to break the deadlock.

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Since the tsunami of 11 March and the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the Japanese atomic reactors were arrested, one after the other to be auscultated. Today, on the fifty-four boilers that supplied 28% of electricity in the Archipelago, only two work. And they should, they also stop in April to be tested for safety.

The streets of Tokyo shine though all their neon lights, and the life of the megalopolis of 35 million people saw the usual pace of its thousands of trains daily. Certainly, the corridors of Meti, the Ministry of Economy, are left in the dark, for an example. But the great campaign to save energy this summer ended.

This return to almost normal life despite the closure of fifty-two reactors, Japan pays a high price. Imports of oil and gas only for rotating thermal power plants in 2011 jumped by 77% and 18%. For the first time in thirty-one years, Japan had a trade deficit in 2011, 24 billion euros. And began the year with a record monthly deficit of 15 billion euros for the month of January, dug by the price of crude.

In this context, the government and power companies do not hide their desire: to restart nuclear plants faster. Large industrial fear a surge in the cost per kilowatt hour are pushing in this direction. The electrician Tepco, which operated the plant in Fukushima Daiichi and navigates to the brink of bankruptcy, announced an increase in its rates 17% for its major customers.

Restart nuclear facilities, just a year after the nuclear accident which forced 100,000 people to evacuate contaminated area? "For the Japanese, it's almost existential debate," says a French expert on energy, visiting Tokyo. The surveys that follow indicate that the majority of the population wants a nuclear phase-out.

Breach of trust

Reflecting Yuichiro Yonei, student 23 years specializing in energy met at the University of Tsukuba, who lived on March 11 as "a break". The young man, who no longer has confidence in the government's word on disaster management Fukushima, became antinuclear. Many young people who share his position on social networks come to sign the petitions in the tent erected militants since the fall before the Ministry of Economy.

The government Yoshihiko Noda walking on eggshells. It will not go into force. Formally, it does not need the green light of regional governors, elected, but nevertheless takes shelter behind them. To restore confidence, after pointing a report of TEPCO and failures of government, the government is reforming the nuclear safety authority, discredited.

Sixteen reactors only have registered for "stress test". Two of them, Ohi 3 and 4, have been deemed suitable by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and could be the first to restart.

The government plans to present in June or July of its energy strategy for the coming years. "We must remove our dependence on nuclear power and build medium to long term a company that will not have to rely on this energy," said the Prime Minister Noda Saturday.

By the summer season of peak power consumption due to the massive use of air conditioning, the Japanese will have to make tough choices: restart their nuclear reactors or pay the current high price; suffer outages new current or reduce their consumption of 10 to 15%.

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LE FIGARO. – What do you think of the proposal of François Hollande to fight against the dismantling of French companies?

Jerome Chartier. – I think she will have three effects: be an accelerator of deindustrialization, insofar as an investor does not take the risk now to resume or expand a business in France for fear of not being free to to act. Francois Hollande first puts the brakes, then it must instead press the accelerator. It expresses all the difference between the administered economy, which it promotes, and regulated the economy, which is the one that defends Nicolas Sarkozy. The second effect is the return of any power of attorney of the Commercial Court which, in the early Mitterrand, had helped to give up half of French industry in symbolic franc. And again, it had never prevented or layoffs or the dismantling. Finally, and this is the third effect, this proposal is an absolute breach of property rights remains one of the founding principles of the Republican base.

Nevertheless, 800,000 industrial jobs were lost in France in ten years

.

These numbers are for the period 1998-2008. The dates are important because they correspond to the vote and the implementation of laws 35 hours. Malthusian principle was actually an accelerator relocations to the extent that, when you can not do enough work your employees in France to address the backlog, you produce elsewhere. Since 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy has stepped up to reindustrialise France. In its report released Friday, the OECD also welcome the research tax credit, the elimination of business tax and the status of the freelancer as good structural measures.

VAT can social relaunch "produce in France"?

Yes, it serves to finance a decrease of 12.12% in payroll taxes, but we will continue to do so to produce the same cost or cheaper than our competitors, Germany and Italy, and not China or India as would have us believe the French Francois Hollande.

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TF1 is not abandoning its status string of Formula 1. Monday morning, Laurent-Eric Le Lay, president of Eurosport and patron of sports rights acquisitions for the group TF1, wanted no misunderstanding: "The group intend to compete at the next tender" that launch the FOM (Formula One Management), he said in substance. "We will continue to treat an outstanding Formula 1 in 2012. And in view of the hearings, we will look very carefully the tender. It is true that today we believe that the price paid is very high, or too high fast cash now. " "Given the developments in television in clear, our means are more limited than before," he said.

Each year, the chain headed by Nonce Paolini does not less than 40 million euros to broadcast these competitions, more than two million per Grand Prix. An amount deemed too important by the group, although, on average, hearings Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon are in the chain, to 23.5%, about three million viewers.

On average, hearings Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon are in the chain.

Inequalities between men and women die hard. On wages, women continued to earn 20% less than men in 2009, INSEE said Wednesday in its latest publication on employment and wages. If this gap has narrowed significantly since 1954 (he was then 35%), it is virtually stagnant since the early 1990s.

This inequality is calculated based on hours of work the same for men and women. But if one takes into account the number of hours actually worked over the year, the gap increases again, due to the higher proportion of women working part-time while they earn nearly 30% of less than men. Positive, however, wage inequality tends to be reduced in less than 25 years.

INSEE explains this persistent inequality by "a qualifying structure" different from each sex. More men, for example, are managers (19% against 12% of women). Even within the same occupational category, inequalities remain payday loans. And sometimes compounded: a female manager in the private sector and 23% earn less than men.

Involuntary part-time

This is partly the effect of the famous "glass ceiling" that prevents women from accessing certain positions. It is also, according to INSEE, the resulting choice of training, industries or career operated by women. Many of them, for example, moving towards the sectors of health or social work, pay less.

The highest proportion of female part-timers do not necessarily result also a choice, especially motivated by family reasons. Even among those who have no children, the proportion of part-time employees is 17% higher than that of men. A figure that reflects the overrepresentation of women in the service sector, where part-time is more widespread.

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Just arrived in Brussels Monday afternoon, Christine Lagarde has distributed the good report was expected of her: "Greece has clearly made major efforts … Now, we need others to do so efforts, and International Monetary Fund (IMF) is ready to work on these bases. "But the CEO was well refrained from giving any indication of the magnitude of the amounts that the Fund might have to put in the pot.

Curiously the German Jörg Asmussen, one of six board members of the European Central Bank (ECB), had announced yet for granted: "We Europeans are waiting (IMF) participate again in height third of the new program "(130 billion euros). This is totally excluded, it says in the entourage of the patron saint of the IMF.

Gone are the days when Dominique Strauss-Kahn had established de facto, in spring 2010, a totally new principle, that the IMF would participate in up to one third in terms of aid to Greece and Ireland and Portugal, the Europeans providing the other two thirds. This rule was applied to the latter two countries, but not quite to Greece where the IMF in assistance loans was only 27%.

And for good reason. It was noted in Washington that the loans in Athens have already exceeded the usual ratios: a country can not receive aid exceeding ten times its share capital to the IMF, according to an unwritten rule but was consistently observed for more sixty years. However, the facilities already enjoyed by Greece reach a multiple of 25.

Accountable

Second difficulty, according to the Wall Street Journal on Monday, the latest "Report on the debt sustainability" would show that by 2020 the ratio was 129% instead of 120% which are considered the maximum allowable. If teams Fund refuse to confirm the risk of skidding, the better to reaffirm that it is imperative that the limit of 120%.

Christine Lagarde, more than ever needs to be accountable to all its 187 shareholder countries, including the United States, which have veto power. While Tim Geithner, U.S. Treasury Secretary, said Sunday that "the United States encourage the IMF to support the agreement (European)". But this does not mean that his country is ready to increase the capacity of the Fund.

The Deputy Tim Geithner even said last Thursday before the Senate, he was no question that Washington is participating in the strengthening of the IMF, including Christine Lagarde has officially set the bar at $ 500 billion. Remember that this project all the countries of Southern Europe that the IMF might have to rescue them.

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The figures are record: 101,700 megawatts (MW) consumed by the French at 19 o'clock last night, a record that surpasses the previous day, to 100,500 megawatts. The previous record was 15 December 2010 to 96,710 megawatts. With each new wave of cold correpond a new historic peak of consumption to meet the increased need for hot water and heating.

Why do we save these records, while 2011 saw a decrease of 6.8% of electricity consumption in France? The sensitivity of electricity consumption to cold temperatures has increased over the last decade, the order of 70 MW per year, says the electricity transmission network (RTE), a subsidiary of EDF responsible for network of power lines. In addition, our electro-climate sensitivity is higher than our neighbors to each degree less, Europeans consume more today 5000 MW, of which only 2300 MW in France! In comparison, Britain consumes 600 MW for each degree lost, Germany and Italy 500 MW 300 MW.

This explains why the French electrical consumption was so low in 2011, the warmest year since 1900. Instead, the cold snap earlier this year led to a series of daily records: the scale of temperatures, the geographic scope (on the whole territory) and the duration of this wave creates a phenomenon of "cold accumulating," said Herve Mignon, Director of Economy, Planning and transparency in TEN.

More electric heaters, more devices

The origin of this particular sensitivity to cold in France: electric heating, which team nearly a third of homes and is installed in 80% of units built in 2009, according to the Environment Agency to control Energy (ADEME). "The electric heaters (except models with heat accumulation) contributes to peak electricity consumption observed around 19h," says this on his site. "It's a French specialty, says Francoise Clement, Information Officer at ADEME. We relied on electric heating, which makes us very dependent on climate. "

Easier and cheaper to install than central heating, it is elected by overwhelming in a country where electricity is more abundant than elsewhere. However, it may prove far more expensive to use, especially since many homes are poorly insulated. "The actual search for energy savings is still new in France, Clement says Françoise. We had no temperature control before 1975 and our expertise in high performance homes is still underdeveloped. "Now, the heat losses are significant: 25% to 30% through the roof, 25% by walls and 10% to 15% by windows.

In parallel, the use of electrical appliances has been steadily improving. In the living room consoles, computers and televisions are increasingly hungry for electricity, as well as kitchen equipment, such as coffee makers and electric robots. "The spirit of cocooning" increases in household demand, explains Françoise Clemente: "We like to equip themselves, we want to be like home."

We must add that the growing electricity demand with economic growth and the continued increase in population. In its latest forecast balance, RTE still see electricity consumption to grow by 1.1% by 2015. Then, assuming an improvement in energy efficiency in buildings, consumption could increase by 0.6% per year by 2030.

Eric Besson this Wednesday morning at the University Paris-Dauphine, his new plan, Digital France 2020 laying down broad objectives for the digital sector, which now accounts for 3.7% of employment in France and 5 2% of GDP.

Some fifty measures, the minister will announce that the government wants to free up additional spectrum for the development of mobile broadband. Good news for mobile operators, which, given the exponential growth of traffic, would need additional 450 megahertz. Good news in perspective as to the state, who can expect royalties.

MEPs adopted Wednesday night special tax on high incomes, who must participate in the return to equilibrium of public finances. As announced, following a compromise between the Assembly and Matignon, mandated after the changeover to the left of the Senate, it will be 3% on income from 250,000 to 500,000 euros, and 4% in excess of 500,000. It will apply until the public finances are in balance. If it retains its provisional nature, it should last beyond 2013 in order not to die better than 2016-2017.

The fee will cover the 26,000 to 27,000 homes, as determined by the general rapporteur of the Budget, Gilles Carrez (UMP).It should bring 410 million euros, according to latest figures, nearly twice that in the version announced by the Prime Minister on August 24.

Rejection of the marginal portion

At seven months of the elections, the vote of the tax as part of the 2012 budget was at high risk. Prime Minister Francois Fillon had in fact called to order the deputies, some of which expressed inclinations tax too pronounced. In Focus, an "amendment Piron," which proposed to introduce an additional tax bracket of 46% for incomes over € 150,000 per unit. UMP deputy from Maine-et-Loire, Michel Piron, was shown last fall by attacking the tax shield. With the help of the president of the deputies of the majority, Christian Jacob, the Prime Minister has finally managed to convince the group which instituted this new band would be a bad idea.The amendment was eventually withdrawn. Taken on the fly by the opposition, it was nevertheless presented to the vote and rejected.

The new center, which has long championed a range of income tax to 45% from 150,000 euros per unit, he has also left his amendment to the closet. The option of withholding tax "is a much harder edge to 45% on income", defended on Wednesday night Charles de Courson (NC).

Charge against ISF

The budget minister, Valérie Pécresse, has in turn highlighted the "justice" of the tax as "a targeted very high incomes in all their components," as calculated "income tax reference." An argument which has not really convinced that the opposition believes that the tax is "cosmetic"."I want you to do a good number throughout the evening by saying" we tax the rich "while in June you have left half of the taxpayers (ISF) for 1.8 billion euros. The movie tonight is to say they are going to take 400 million! "Launched Henri Emmanuelli (PS). François de Rugy (EELV) was also delivered to a small calculation: "A single person earning just under 500,000 euros or 40,000 euros per month, you ask 625 euros a month!", He denounced . Senators will have their turn to vote.The total budget for 2012 must be voted by AUI December 15.

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