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At two weeks of the presidential election, the president of the FNSEA – first agricultural union – fixed priorities of operators for the next five. Xavier Beulin first asks the next tenant of the Elysee to reopen "in July" folder of competition law applied to food.

An "emergency" he said, after the multiplication in recent weeks fines against players of Agriculture and Agri-Food: endiviers, millers, dairies and pig industry by the end of the year . "Since the withdrawal of government in regulating markets, supply chain organization is more necessary than ever. We want to know what he can do in competition within the European framework, "he says. A key issue to rebalance the bargaining power of thousands of often helpless in the face a mass distribution concentrated in five major buying groups.

One solution to this problem – the establishment of a "Small Business Act" as the United States, proposed by Nicolas Sarkozy during the 66th Congress of the FNSEA – was favored by Xavier Beulin. This system is to set aside a significant percentage of tenders to local products. "20% as already allowed the Minister of Agriculture is good but not enough." Francois Hollande proposed last week to double this.

Revalue pensions

Second request of the union: the harmonization of social and environmental standards at European level. "We propose a simple alignment with European standards and no more. France is an excess of zeal in which the disadvantage compared to its competitors, "says Xavier Beulin. This requires a relaxation of administrative permits, such as storing water in times of drought, energy recovery operations through photovoltaics, biogas, or solar energy.

The third priority concerns the pension increases. A petition of 80,000 signatories was brought to the HQ of the ten candidates in the presidential election for a rebalancing of pension for farmers. "It is necessary to upgrade the minimum pension at 75% of minimum wage and align the calculation of pensions over the last 25 years, not the entire career." Finally as regards the common agricultural policy, Xavier Beulin, welcomes the consensus that exists among the candidates, except Marine Le Pen, who advocates a return to French agricultural policy. "The face of French agriculture with 64% of opportunities are provided by Europe would not be the same without the CAP," he recalls.

While the leader of the FNSEA highlights the many positive points of the quinquennium ending, especially on agricultural G20, the various plans emergency aid and lowering labor costs with the social VAT, it does no voting instructions. Especially as the environmental aspect he was disappointed the results of the Grenelle Environment Forum.

He called to vote for either April 22? The union president called simply majority agricultural farmers to go to the polls en masse without giving an instruction to vote. "This has never been in the culture of the house," he concludes.

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A helicopter chartered by Total departed Aberdeen on Thursday at 10:35 local time (11:35 Paris) for an initial inspection of the gas leak on the platform Elgin, evacuated March 26. The operation had been delayed so far because of the east wind that beat down the cloud of gas to the landing deck. The winter-like conditions in the north of Scotland where snow whitened the countryside around Aberdeen since the beginning of the week does not facilitate the task.

After about an hour's flight, the helicopter had to land on the platform "PUQ", the residential area of ​​Elgin, 240 km east of Aberdeen in the North Sea. The eight men are to achieve the production platform of Elgin by a walkway 90 meters long. Among them, several employees of the Texas company Wild Well Control, which is illustrated in extinguishing oil wells in Kuwait after the Iraqi invasion of 1991 and during the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Specialists will inspect the wellhead from which escape G4 still about 200,000 m3 of gas per day and measure the pressure in the concentric rings that form the wells. Elgin on the platform, all electricity was cut and the flare died out for lack of gas to be burned. The team's visit remains risky, any heat source is likely to cause a gas explosion.

The reconnaissance team must prepare the ground for the operation of plugging the well. In the coming days or next week, ships carrying "sludge" draw near Elgin. These "sludge" in reality a mixture of fluids removed from wells, water and additives concocted to get a precise density, explains Andrew Hogg, director of communications "Exploration and Production" Total, will be injected into the wells in an attempt to "kill", and finally seal. Wild Well Control, this is an operation "standard," said the spokesman for Total, but with a specific difficulty in Elgin field: its high temperature and high pressure.

If this operation, called "top kill" in the jargon oil, fails, it will drill two wells bypass using two mobile platforms in transit. A job that can take six months, and admits Total cost at least $ 150 million per well, indicated Monday the Chevardière Patrick, CFO of the oil company.

The helicopter and its eight crew members must return to Aberdeen in the day, no question of taking the risk of leaking and a platform that all systems are off.

Organize the output of Greece in the euro area, child's play? Almost, in

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Gradually, the Mediterranean Solar Plan is developed. Thursday morning in Brussels, the two flagship projects and Medgrid Desertec designed separately at first, will sign a cooperation agreement. Of French origin, the first consortium aims to build high-voltage lines connecting Africa to Europe. Inspired by German, the second involves the construction of huge solar farms in North Africa.

The document will be ratified by André Merlin, President of Medgrid, and Paul Van Son, his alter ego in Desertec. Eric Besson, the French Minister of Industry and Jochen Homann, his German counterpart, will also attend. In Brussels, which is also a Council of European Ministers of Energy, the Commission also takes advantage of having worked for the merger of the two initiatives quick cash.But technological advances have reduced line losses, which now stand at 3% per thousand miles, plus 2% at the entrance and exit of high-voltage network, says the expert of the IEA.

Current day and night

The future of solar photovoltaic Maghreb will not. This will be central to thermal concentration (on the principle of Gemasolar, Spain) that have the great advantage of storing energy and thus provide power at night or on cloudy days, and especially the demand.

The first project under the Desertec should expand its parabolic mirrors of 12 square kilometers, near Ouarzazate (Morocco) and an output of 500 megawatts (more than half of a nuclear reactor for generating Fessenheim for example).

Released in early 2010, a year and a half of recession caused by the bursting of the housing bubble, Spain could plunge into the red. Supported by the only engine of exports and tourism, the economy will suffer from the international slowdown. And domestic demand – consumption and investment – remains stalled, weighed down by record unemployment. Economists forecast a decline in activity over the next two quarters. For the full 2012, Natixis expects an increase of GDP, limited to 0.2%, even more severe, Bank of America Merrill Lynch expects a fall of 0.7%. Two days before the election, the government had to accept lower growth for 2011 at 0.8% against 1.3%, less than half that expected by Brussels in the euro area.

Occupation: the red lantern of Europe

This is the black point of the Spanish economy fast cash without a hassle.With more than 22% Madrid shows the unemployment rate the highest in the euro area. One in five is unemployed and no improvement is expected in the short to medium term. Affected sectors, construction and real estate have lost more than 1.4 million jobs since 2007, while 700,000 jobs were destroyed in the industry. Are the front line jobs with low qualifications, young people without experience and foreign populations. The long-term unemployment has risen sharply, increasing the risk of dangerously exclusion. This file will be the priority of the next majority. Structural reform, initiated by the Zapatero government, to more flexible labor market, had no positive effect on job creation.

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Barely more than one agent in two has passed. Participation in professional elections in state civil service fell 51% against 70% in previous elections. This dip can be explained by the Ministry of Education (more than half of voters), where the number of voters has plummeted to 38.5%. Participation has also maintained or slightly increased.

Several unions of education have questioned the electronic voting used for the first time. Besides errors "classic" in sending the professions of faith or the constitution of electoral lists – that private voting some candidates! – Bugs, especially complex and lengthy procedures have discouraged or computer agents prevented some from voting.The FSU, crumbling a bit, but still by far in the lead for Education (40.6%, double the UNSA and three times the CFDT and FOR), the judge "malfunctions" so many they constitute a "denial of social democracy." According to the CGT, "for 10% of the workforce, the conditions were not met in order to vote." Tens of thousands of voters have not received the code allowing them to vote.

Demobilization

"The elections were conducted generally without real difficulty," scans the Minister of Public Service, citing the use of "modern" and "environmentally responsible". François Sauvadet "rejects the word" failed ". Participation is also the result of the decision of each agent to vote or not. " The officers had "one week to decide," says one colleague in Education, Luc Chatel.Favor of electronic voting and … up, the CFDT and Unsa also note that if teachers are not mobilized, principals or administrative officers of Education have been more involved, as postal workers, while they also voted on the Internet. The vote for the first time, contract – which the unions have not always paid great attention – may also explain the poor performance against.

Mechanical consequence of the demobilization of troops of Education, FSU – so far the first union of all the public service of this state, but almost exclusively among teachers – see the gap is closing with its competitors.It drops to 20.9% of the votes (19.1% including private school teachers under contract, for the first time integrated into the social dialogue bodies of the state).

The reformists up

His pursuers, rather than reformist protesters, progress: FOR 17.8% (16.2% with private school teachers), the UNSA with 16.7% (15.3%), with 12.6% CFDT (14.5%). Then come the CGT with 13.4% (12.8%), Partners with 6.5% (6.2%), CFE-CGC with 6.3% (5.8%) and the CFTC with 1, 6% (3.9%). FO heels and the FSU and even seems able to catch up. However, the CFTC could disappear from the list of allowed unions to negotiate and sign agreements for all the officials, failing sufficient score.

But these results should be taken with a grain of salt: more than 300 000 registered agents are still missing the call, about 2 million.Are integrated nor France Telecom nor the Department of Justice, who will vote Nov. 22. In the first case, it was always intended, in the second the vote was postponed at the last minute because they have been properly prepared.

They do not include either the results of the Ministries of Economy and Budget, who had not finished stripping, yesterday afternoon. What added a little more sense of improvisation and confusion. At some point – even among union leaders – questioned whether Bercy did not take pleasure in soap the plank at the Department of Civil Service, at the forefront of this election. In the week already, as the "flop" of participation seemed to indicate the climate was tense between 101 and 110 rue de Grenelle – seat of the Ministry of Public Service and that of the National Education.

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The rise of the Swiss franc does not penalize only the inhabitants of the Helvetic Confederation. It also makes havoc among bank customers. The French Association of bank users (AFUB) has already received nearly a hundred and fifty complaints from individuals who have subscribed to loans indexed to the Swiss currency. "But according to our estimates, at least fifteen thousand people were involved across France," Serge evaluates Master, managing director of the association. Financial products attractive at first sight, but which have proved extremely costly since the flight of the franc.

Almost all the loans that AFUB is aware have been contracted in 2008 or 2009 with Crédit Agricole and BNP Paribas. In one third of cases, these loans were to finance the purchase of a principal residence, the others having been made in the context of a rental investment."It's BNP Paribas has been the most offensive. 70% of the loans we have studied have also been contracted to her. These banks were dangling their customers better rates, while ensuring that the franc would remain stable, "said Serge Master.

A law in Hungary

This analysis proved wrong. Safe haven in the crisis, the Swiss franc has appreciated almost 25% between early January and late summer, causing an extra cost of the same magnitude for the subscribers. With money borrowed in the range of 200,000 euros to 300,000 euros, the difference is significant.

If the monthly payments have not changed, the duration of loans as the amount still outstanding has increased drastically. On a forum, a client of BNP Paribas complains, for example, seeing his outstanding capital increase from 133,000 euros to 162,000 euros in the space of a year and a half.

Solutions seem possible, however, in each case. "For three cases, the banks agreed to enter into an agreement with their client. They could exchange their loans indexed to the Swiss franc against a loan in euros. But the whole point of the negotiations is who supports the additional costs of increasing the currency of Switzerland. Banks have sometimes agreed to take half their dependents, "said Serge Master.

In Hungary, where the phenomenon took on a different scale – two thirds of the loans are currently denominated in Swiss francs – the government took drastic measures. A recent law forced banks to exchange the loans against loans in forints, with a fixed preferential 25% below the current market rate. For banks, this measure will cost. Austrian institutions, highly established in Hungary, could include losing the order of 6 billion euros.Furious, the sector has entered the Hungarian Constitutional Court, without success. But the EU could declare the process illegal.

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In recent weeks, a new generation of vending machines first appeared in Paris. Located near the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, the machine offers, 24 and 24 hours seven days a week, fresh bread, sold a euro baguette. One hundred and twenty rods craft, pre-cooked for ten minutes, are placed for maximum seventy-two hours in the refrigerated dispenser. The end of the cooking is done at the pace of demand for ten more minutes. They can then be kept for more than five hours, to ensure consumers of warm bread.

The origin of this world first, as original as vending machines swimwear and sunglasses located at the entrance to the pools, is Jean-Louis Hecht.The baker was able to marry fifties vending, mainly industrial and bakery.

"Small steps slowly"

It all began in 2001 when the contractor completed the first prototype of its distributor, together with a technical school in Moselle. He suggested "small steps small steps" toward a machine patented by the company and assembly of industrial equipment Mecondielle Portuguese. The investment is huge for this baker without the cost of the assembly, the machine comes already at 30,000 euros. Then you would need two hundred and fifty hours of assembly.

The machine, the first of which is in commercial service since January in Moselle, in the other bakery owned by Jean-Louis Hecht, naturally allows to inflate sales, thanks to its opening hours."It is also a strong vehicle for promoting that is not gray at the bakery, says Jean-Louis Hecht. On the contrary, this innovation is a service that complements the baker's trade but do not replace. "

He said it will become indispensable in France and abroad, because of the quality of the product offered and the economic viability extraordinary profits are 30% higher than the store, according to the contractor.

A solution for villages without trade

In Paris, the distributor already sells 80 sticks a day, and Jean-Louis Hecht look forward to go further. The entrepreneur wants to "make the most of" his idea and does not sell his patent. He thinks big and would like to extend it by buying several bakeries and industrial equipment, backed by the facade.

The baker has other ambitions for his vending machine.A consulting firm located in Portugal working on a version independent of any trade, which would be installed in remote locations such as villages, tourist resorts or passage.

With the unmistakable design of his machine, Jean-Louis Hecht even considering creating a string, which spread in the desert regions of all trade, to allow each person to have its traditional fresh baguette every day. He finally claims that his invention has international potential, in Europe or the United States, where consumers are fond of "French baguette."

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EU leaders Thursday night put on the table a series of measures to help Greece, but also to convince that there is solidarity in the euro area payday advance lender.

Save Greece

Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank on Thursday. Photo credits: Georges Gobet / AFP