Month after month, Europe confirms that it is a disaster area in the car. In April, sales of new cars fell 6.9% year on year, its seventh consecutive monthly decline. After falling 7.5% since the beginning of the year will likely decline in 2012 for the fifth consecutive year.

The situations are however mixed. Among major markets, only Germany (+2.9%) and Britain (+3.3%) rose last month. In France, the decline in registrations was limited to 1.9%. But they collapse in the countries worst hit by the crisis: Italy (- 18%) and Spain (- 21.7%). Greece (- 56.7%) and Portugal (- 41.7%), two opportunities are more limited, the situation is terribly wrong.

The companies have also had mixed fortunes. The brands are particularly general practitioners to the penalty. Renault sales, which lack novelties – the Clio 4 is scheduled for fall – and have tumbled 15.1% last month. PSA is, however, remained stable (+0.2%) thanks to the success of the DS series, the premium line of Citroën. Four months of concern both for PSA, Renault, whose sales fell by 13.6% and 21.3% in Europe. These two manufacturers remain very dependent on the Old Continent, which represented nearly 60% of their volumes last year.

Factories idle

To reduce inventory, they reduce the rate in French factories. The production of passenger and commercial PSA dropped 2.3% in the first quarter in the Hexagon, while Renault has shrunk by 12 online pay day loans.6%. Consequently, several sites are affected PSA for months by partial unemployment. In May, they set factories in Mulhouse, Sochaux and Rennes, as well as that of Vesoul, in the Doubs, penalized by the freezing of the activity of manufacturing spare parts for an Iranian partner. For its part, Renault has scheduled working days lost in Maubeuge this month.

Another side effect, the difficulties of PSA could penalize the joint venture it owns with BMW in the hybrid technologies, said Wednesday the boss of the German manufacturer, Norbert Reithofer.

Opel, whose sales fell 16.9% in Europe last month, is also in trouble. In the first quarter, its parent company, American General Motors, lost $ 256 million on the Old Continent, leaded by the underutilization of its plants, as his ally PSA, which it owns 7%.

Also impacted the volumes of Fiat, Toyota and Nissan were down 11.5%, 14.4% and 20%. The Volkswagen group outperformed the market, through its Skoda and Audi premium brand. On the same niche, BMW and Mercedes are also growing. As for brands like, Korean Kia is also continuing its spectacular offensive, with a jump of 19.1% last month.

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Five months after the sinking of Concordia, Costa Cruises ship owner wants to turn the page by launching a new ship, the Fascinosa, luxurious building 290 meters long, up to and seventeen bridges capable of carrying 3800 passengers. Some 510 million euros have been invested to build the fleet of the fifteenth unit in Fincantieri shipyards in Marghera group, deep in the Venice lagoon. His baptism, Saturday, resulting in a ceremony dominated by the desire to forget a tragedy that, as the CEO of Costa Crociere – the Italian name of the company – Pierluigi Foschi, "would never have happened and did again ".

Foschi, who forsake the end of July the operational management group, at age 65, to remain president, attributed the sinking "only to human error," that is reckless navigation of captain Francesco Schettino, still under house arrest pending trial. "Our company is cooperating fully with the law, provides the CEO with Le Figaro. The survey should be completed in October-November. But now, Costa has significantly strengthened the security systems on its vessels. "

Seven measures were adopted, the training of crew in lifeboat drills, now imposed on all passengers before departure. A satellite tracking will allow the monitoring center of Genoa at any time to know the exact position of each ship and to correct any unexpected change of course.

Bookings up

Regarding compensation for 4205 persons on board the Concordia, the CEO says the problem of the crew is set. "Two thirds of the 3,216 passengers took up the offer of the company (14,000 euros per passenger). Remains third with which legal disputes are open in various countries. The impact of such compensation will be minimal on the accounts of the company. They will be supported by our insurers. "Compensation for relatives of 32 victims is the subject of a separate chapter.

The drama was not a result of extended commercial for Costa. "After an initial drop, cruise bookings have resumed at a rate greater than 2011. Of course, we had to cut prices because of the crisis too. Twenty million passengers go on a cruise every year. Accidents are the exception, "insists CEO.

The wreck remains. The 2,200 tons of fuel were pumped in 31 days without any pollution. Last week, Costa Cruises has signed a contract with a consortium of Italian-American, and Titan Salvage Micoperi, to redress the huge carcass beached at the island of Giglio and tan up a shipyard in Livorno. "We are given twelve months to do this but we hope to do before winter. Never do such a rescue was attempted in the world. It is a daunting challenge … ", says CEO.

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Times are tough for Philips. Former world number one on many markets consumer electronics, the Dutch group continues to see its market share decline. Including the segment of headphones, one of the most promising areas of the moment. In two years, sales of helmets rose 30% in France. Philips has lost eight points of market share. In 2012, 10 million headsets, for a total of 330 million euros, should be sold in the Hexagon, according to GfK.

The reverse is even more difficult to accept for the group Philips has negotiated very well the transition from stereo to the Dock. The Netherlands has 18% market share in France and his throne at the top spot in Europe. A turn much less negotiated in helmets. "New entrants have redefined the market. They even reinvented, "says Olivier Ginet, CEO of Philips Lifestyle France. For Philips, the challenge is daunting. The brand is certainly recognized in the field of audio, but not by the young crowd, follower of headphones. The trend marks are called Beats by Dr. Dre (acquired by HTC), Wesc, Sennheiser … And they have driven prices up. This is another feature of this market in one year, prices rose on average by 18% in 2011.

Target young

To adapt to this new deal, Philips has decided to launch a new brand, Fidelio, dedicated to high-end, with selling prices between 199 and 280 euros fast payday loan. In the heart of range, the group leverages its alliance with the sports brand O'Neill to rejuvenate its image. Partnerships with leading figures in music or sports are also considered. Philips, however, recognized the sound quality offered by its products, decreased the size of its logo on his headphones.

"We will work to rejuvenate the brand by focusing our efforts on communication," says Olivier Ginet. A point that its competitors have mastered perfectly. Dr. Dre and is the favorite brand of football players. Philips has tried to reciprocate by equipping players XV of France during the last Rugby World Cup. But that did not have the same impact.

The Dutch must now prevail in the headphones, or risk seeing its brand is devalued, particularly in the smartphone docking stations.

Now Philips has developed the "Appssesories", that is to say, accessories for smart phones with a dedicated application. It may as well be a video camera associated with an application to monitor his house (or children) at a distance, or a scale to monitor his weight curve. Just like that already offers the French Withings. Pending applications for headphones.

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Gender equality is properly the subject of agreements with social partners. Just as returning from maternity leave, "interviews" are provided in most companies. Why, then, women have as much trouble to return to work?

"After a maternity or parental leave, employees often feel of being outside projects. There was a loss of connection. To this may be added the fact of leaving her child … If the firm does not establish adequate conditions for return, the performance will not be at the rendezvous, "said Clare Hart. The English came to France to complete his studies, was created in response, in 1993, ILO (International Organization Language), business language training, translation and interpretation, based near Montpellier. It has 18 employees, 85% women and 26 babies since its inception … From the "motherhood issues," Clare Hart has an opportunity to develop flexibility.

Generalize pairs

In addition to interviews pre and post-discharge, she devised a system of pairs of all positions. Thus, the quality manager he is the deputy accountant, for example. "It's simple, she says. Just take an inventory of tasks within the company, then distribute them in the accompanying training. "

Today, the system benefits everyone. "The pairs organize themselves. They come to me with solutions, not problems, which allows me, as a manager, to focus on the positive, "says the leader. She believes that this system is transferable to large groups.

For the latter, the problem is the lack of proximity. "Talk to the return period is a key moment, says Lawrence Depond, Director of the diversity of France Telecom Orange. After a first child or solidarity leave people no longer the same. They generally want to evolve, "says he. The group also recommends he strongly these talks, whatever the nature of the leave. But the implementation of the device is within its 12,000 managers in France. To accompany them, he sent twenty locally "relevant professional equality" trained at ESSEC. More recently, the group developed a series of films shown on its intranet to encourage fathers to take more responsibility vis-à-vis children

.

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The popularity of Apple is more than ever to go. Queues of hundreds of people were already this morning in front of stores in Asia to buy the new iPad. The new version of Apple's tablet is sold from today in ten countries, including France but also Japan, the United States and Hong Kong. However, mainland China, growing market for Apple, will wait a little longer before discovering the new product, which includes the 4G.

The enthusiastic reception by fans of the new Apple iPad has still pushed the title of the company this week. The action is briefly above the $ 600 mark yesterday in New York. She had reached $ 500 for the first time last month. In one year, the stock has increased by 70% and the valuation of the company is approaching $ 560 billion. According to projections by Morgan Stanley, Apple's stock could reach $ 960 by next year if the market remains bullish. At the same maturity, the house of Jefferies sees financial services as a trading at $ 699 or $ 800 if the economic environment improves.

Since launching the first version of the iPad in 2010, Apple sold 55 million tablets worldwide. According to calculations by the Gartner Institute, sales of tablets, all brands, are expected to reach 326 million copies in 2015, and the Apple brand is expected to cut the lion's share.  

For his part, Choi Gee-sung, vice president of Samsung Electronics, Apple's biggest competitor on smartphones and tablets, said this morning waiting for a difficult year 2012 with increased competition in the electronics.

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The carbon tax decided by the Europeans could threaten 20% of the production of large aircraft – the A 330 and A 380 – Airbus alert Louis Welsh, CEO of EADS, the parent company of Airbus.

There are already industrial consequences that amount to retaliation. The Chinese government has frozen any decision acquisitions of large carriers in Europe, specifically 35 and 10 A 330 A 380 that wish to order Chinese companies.  

So, the increase in production rates of A 330 (7 to 11 per month by the second quarter 2014) "depends on the maintenance or not of Chinese companies and Chinese government approval."

"This European tax distortions created"

Louis Welsh argues for a global solution and not just European, "this European tax is inappropriate, it created distortions and puts Europe's aerospace industry and in opposition to the world," said the president of EADS payday loans in one hour.

Louis said that the Welsh Group and its subsidiaries spend 80% of its investments in programs to reduce fuel consumption and therefore emissions, and noise. 

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Nicolas Sarkozy's promise to the workers and employees is clear: lowering of 4 billion euros labor costs at the minimum wage, will increase their take home pay. To finance the measure without worsening deficits, it intends to eliminate the employment bonus (PPE) and increase the taxation of dividends. A device that is the electorate.

]]> http://parasiteevecentral.com/low-wages-the-idea-of-%e2%80%8b%e2%80%8bsarkozy-under-scrutiny/feed/ 0 http://parasiteevecentral.com/greece-a-fragile-agreement-on-austerity/ http://parasiteevecentral.com/greece-a-fragile-agreement-on-austerity/#comments Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:24:07 +0000 admin http://parasiteevecentral.com/greece-a-fragile-agreement-on-austerity/  

An agreement in the snatch and the future still uncertain! After several months of negotiations punctuated by multiple twists and endless political after exhausting all possible time, the coalition government of Lucas Papademos has finally know yesterday that he had accepted the terms of its creditors , potentially paving the way for possible release in the coming weeks for an additional loan of 130 billion euros.

With this sum, Greece will pay a crucial deadline to € 14.5 billion on March 20 and save his place in the euro area, at least temporarily. The planned austerity measures concerning the dismissal of some 15,000 officials here in April, falling incomes, especially with the reduction of the minimum wage from 750 euros to 580 euros gross per month, and a multitude of new taxes. The pressure of the conservative party will have saved pensions in exchange for reducing the defense budget. Finally, the privatization program has been adjusted, instead of 50 billion euros so far promised, Athens privatize only 19 billion euros by 2015, with priority, the water company, the electricity and the railways.

But signs of the fragility of this agreement: soon concluded it was denounced by Giannis Koutroumanos, the Deputy Minister of Labour who has resigned. This former president of the union officials consider that "measures are not simply imposed severe, they are insurmountable for Greek workers." In a bitter letter, he denounced the blackmail that the EU and the IMF are in Greece and the lack of an effective recipe for overcoming the crisis. A highly symbolic gesture, while the street is still furious. The majority of the population believes that the "remedies" given to Greece to clean up its accounts, are not good. The unions therefore call for 48 hours general strike today and threatened unlimited strikes from next week.

Indigestible potion

These new twists in Athens were greeted with caution by the finance ministers of the euro area, which met late in the day to Brussels for an extraordinary Eurogroup. "We will not have final agreement this evening and it's not a disaster," said the president of the institution, Jean-Claude Juncker. Earlier this week, diplomats in Brussels argued however that "this time it's make or break for Greece." But obviously, time to release the aid package of at least EUR 130 billion has not yet come. "The most important thing is to listen to that troika has to say," launched the Dutch Jan Kees de Jager.

Of course, the announcement came from Athens "relieved" its partners, recognizes a diplomat. But he quickly adds: "We will still have to ensure that the agreement is concrete. For with the Greeks, the confidence is moderate. "And to list the" potential pitfalls "for the Euro:" The Greek Minister Venizelos has no room for error. His presentation should be clear as to leave no gray area. "

Arriving at the Council building in Brussels, most advisers emphasized the difficulties. "We must ensure that the situation in Greece will be sustainable," explained one of them. Privately, EU experts agreed that the succession of austerity is a particularly indigestible potion for the Greek people to the ground. But this is the only possible view the Eurogroup, which wants to end decades in which the country has lived beyond its means, without creating industrial and competitive services.

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For two years, confidence in the Italian government has been falling as steadily deteriorating relationship with the political world."Concerned about a financial crisis, two-thirds of Italians believe that the worst is to come, distressed by unemployment and social welfare in a period of greater vulnerability, they felt that no one took him round the waist problems, do not even recognize the existence, says Nando Pagnoncelli, director of Ipsos. Neither the government and elected a parliament that does not debating the privacy of the Chairman, corruption and their internal battles. "Not only the Italians refuse to grant more confidence in Berlusconi but, having in head the failure of the Prodi team in 2008, after a year and a half of government, they can not believe that the Left in power would be able to govern.

The investigation of this type of case takes on average between 12 and 18 months. But the length of the procedure does not scare GDF Suez, which the argument is simple: the law requires that the procurement costs of the company are covered by fees, and grant a small margin. Upon arrival, if the formula price was applied on October 1, gas prices for individuals would have had to climb 10%.GDF Suez's estimated shortfall by the end of the year to some 290 million euros.

For its part, the Commission for Energy Regulation (CRE), the industry policeman, issued an opinion unfavorable to the Government Order. Meanwhile, the regulator gave the Minister of Industry, a report on the Exploring the evolution rate of increase gas prices. One of the measures mentioned by the CRE is to increase – in the development of the formula – the share of the market price of gas now cheaper for the consumer and supply contracts in the long run.

This design technique should allow to reconcile the evolution of gas prices with the political imperative to avoid any increase, especially brutal.

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