The new ceiling be zero rate loan it says in the Elysee PalaceReconstruction of facts said us anything else000 daily barrels in November either 645This represents nearly 190000 young each yearThe unsuccessful will be many including in the ranks of the French banksA calendar of ambitious if not unrealisticThese software can be divided into two categoriesBush is still the tenant of the White HouseAnd the crisis could last about two yearsThe leverage of debt reduction process will take yearsFor the members of the Government to implement the "economic patriotism", 2006 will remain an "annus horribilis". The concept, it recollects, had bloomed late summer 2005, after insistent rumours of PepsiCo's OPA on Danone. In early 2006, it is more hexagonal yoghurts are threatened, but steels of Arcelor, coveted by the Indian Mittal, and plants of Suez, watched a little too closely by the Italian Enel. In both cases, the Government will try to thwart the projects of these foreign predators. For Arcelor, is Thierry Breton, Minister of economy, which climbs to the niche and plays bullying. The supply of Mittal, proclaims, reflects a "misunderstanding of the rules of the modern economy" and it contradicts "the grammar of the business world. But beyond the words, what can the Government If Arcelor employs 30,000 employees in France and the French State has spent billions to save its steel industry, the group is based in the Luxembourg since the merger that gave him birth. With the endorsement of Bercy, its leaders are seeking a White Knight. It will be red, in this case the Russian Severstal. But Mittal has to show Arcelor shareholders that the proposals of the group led by a close to the Kremlin are not weight. And in July, he finally takes the case.
Astonishingly for foreigners
In the energy, the drama will continue, but without success. A penalty known the intentions of Enel, the Government again in combat. Regardless of that EDF had the right after years of setbacks, it is true to afford Italian Edison, after having its market in Britain. It is Dominique de Villepin himself announces that, on 24 February, the project barrera road to Enel: the merger of Suez with gas of France, to establish a national energy champion. But the case quickly is complex because it must privatize gas of France and therefore change the law passed in 2004 coming to end of the resistance of employees, and Brussels, finally convince the shareholders of Suez. Each of these barriers will turn into true cross road, the final coup de grace in operation given by... the Constitutional Council.
In both cases, foreign observers are surprised of government activism. The France is certainly not the only one to encourage the creation of national champions. In Germany, the resumption by Bayer of compatriot Schering to create a health champion is hailed by the team in power. But quietly. In France, on the contrary, is the logic of the two weights, two measures: the Ministers multiply the declarations of war against those who dare to covet our beautiful companies while welcoming, at the same time, that they can continue their shopping abroad. L ' Oréal gets as an ethical virginity by putting their hands on the British Body Shop; France Telecom takes the mobile from the Spanish brought; and Alcatel, five years after a first failure, finally managed to merge with its American rival Lucent. Curiously, an operation, yet essential to the economic life of the country, appear to be ignored by our leaders: redemption of Euronext, the Pan-European stock exchange, by the American Nyse. Requested to give its opinion on this draft, Thierry Breton will remind opportunely, in July, that "the shareholders are in fine alone to decide." A "business grammar" decidedly variable geometry...
