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Against "unfair and ineffective sacrifices, Greek officials Wednesday manifested in big cities. A 24-hour strike was launched by the Union Public Service ADEDY, with more than 300,000 members. Employees of public protest against wage cuts announced by the Socialist government to reduce deficits and thus reassure the markets.

Tuesday, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou reiterated wage austerity measures provided for in the Public Service wage freeze, down 10% premium, 30% decrease in overtime, stoppage of recruitment in 2010, except in the sectors of health, education and security. Labor Minister, Andreas Loverdos, proposed back two years to 2015 the average age of retirement to raise it to 63 years.

In Athens, about 5,000 union members protesting in the rain in the streets, which must be added the separate gathering of 5,000 activists of the union Struggle Front (PAME), an offshoot of the ultra-orthodox communist party (KKE). In Salonika, is counting down nearly 3,000 officers pounding the pavement.

Moreover, tens of thousands of officials have answered the call to strike the ADEDY. Air traffic controllers joined the strike and there was no traffic Wednesday in Greece.

Meeting of Finance Ministers of the euro area

These events occur when the finance ministers of the eurozone plan to meet as Wednesday by teleconference to discuss the situation in Greece, several diplomatic sources.In view of this meeting, Nicolas Sarkozy held talks by telephone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU President Herman Van Rompoy.

According to Le Monde, President of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet and the chairman of the Eurogroup forum of finance ministers from the eurozone, Jean-Claude Juncker, will join the discussions.

This meeting will be held on the eve of a summit of EU leaders on the issue in Brussels saving account payday loan . At this stage, there is "not agree" on a plan of aid to Greece. The signs, however, a support mechanism for this country is growing. A senior parliamentary Conservative German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Michael Meister, has indicated that preparations were underway in the German Government for an assistance plan.It could take the form of housing provision of bilateral loans to certain countries of the euro area in favor of Greece, to help cope with higher prices for its cost of borrowing on the markets since the beginning of the crisis. The option of an advance payment of EU subsidies to Greece is also considered.

Papandreou lunch with Nicolas Sarkozy

Prime Minister George Papandreou, who visited on Wednesday in Paris where he had lunch with French President Nicolas Sarkozy has reaffirmed his determination.He promised Wednesday to "take all necessary measures" to reduce the deficit and ensured that "each of the measures of the austerity program will be applied.

The Prime Minister had called in an attempt to limit the impact of the strike, officials to "lead by example" to help end the crisis.

Furthermore, President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chancellor Angela Merkel Thursday held a joint press conference after the informal EU summit in Brussels, including the situation in Greece, said Wednesday the spokesman for the French government, Luc Chatel. "Under the EU summit, the president will have the opportunity to hold a joint press conference with Merkel on various subjects.I guess the question (of the situation in Greece) will be addressed, "said Luc Chatel in reporting to the press the work of the council of ministers.

"The French government is involved as its European partners on the situation of the euro and the situation in Greece in particular," he said, adding that the Economy Minister Christine Lagarde had "routine contacts with counterparts "on this issue.

The year 2010 will she, socially, as difficult as the year 2009? After the leaders of the metallurgical Swedish Akers, it was the turn of those of Pier Import of being selected by employees angry. They are fifty, working in 25 stores pending closure, to have forced two of their leaders, the CEO Sonia Ben Behe and CEO Gerard Démaret to spend the night Monday in their office.

The group's employees placed in bankruptcy protection since September, and reiterated recently by the group atmospheres, hope to obtain supra-legal benefits greater than those granted after the works council on Monday.For while 20 stores were saved by the recovery, the closure of 25 other lead 140 redundancies.

A strain devoid of aggression "

"The night [passed to company headquarters in Villepinte] went very well. They are still retains, in a friendly atmosphere, "said Fabrice Ménard, union CGT (majority) pay day loans . In turn, the CEO said last night that the constraint exercised by the employees was "devoid of aggression," and that the situation was "not annoying".

Employees require a half months of salary per year of seniority. Management, however, limits his proposal to a month for five years seniority."The supra-legal claims are being negotiated, nobody will be cheated of his rights, had assured the CEO Monday, pending a meeting Wednesday with Claude Ben Behe, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Förfina, principal shareholder of Pier Import. The Industry Minister Christian Estrosi said Tuesday morning on LCI it was the duty of government to "ensure" that a "way forward" is found for each employee, but said he can not be "real negotiations when there is violence."

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Warren Buffet has spoken. The American billionaire was strongly opposed to the will of Kraft Foods to issue 370 million shares to acquire Cadbury. Holding 9.4% stake in Kraft Foods, he says leading shareholder of U.S. food group. In a statement, holding the "Oracle of Omaha 'believes that this offer is a" blank check "for Kraft, which could, if necessary, modify its bid, thus harming shareholders. "What we are sure is that the current price of Kraft shares to $ 27 is a" money "too expensive for an acquisition," said the statement.

Kraft has announced its final bid for Cadbury by 19 January. "If we conclude that the offer does not destroy value for Kraft shareholders, we will vote" yes ".For now, we believe that no shareholder should do (vote "yes"), so it is not clear why he voted "he concludes.

At the opening on Wall Street Tuesday, Kraft Foods was up 2.99% to 28.25 euros. The Dow Jones lost 0.31% to 10,551.61 points.

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The number of new listings weekly unemployment has never been this low since mid-2008 the United States. During the week ended December 26, 432,000 cases were filed, against 452,000 the previous week, according to figures released Thursday in Washington.

This new statistic goes against the expectations of analysts. The consensus of economists polled by Reuters had expected an upward effect on new registrations to 460,000.

The downward trend observed since the spring is thus confirmed, after two weeks of increases observed in early December.

Friendly atmosphere in Berlin between Christine Lagarde and his German counterpart Finance, Wolfgang Schäuble, who met Monday for a preparatory meeting at the Brussels summit. Certainly, the French minister still can not correctly pronounce the name of his neighbor, but for the rest, they gave the image of a pair perfectly consistent.

"It is for us to strengthen the Franco-German base and we consult on the question of the stability pact. We have also given our views on oversight of the financial system, "said the minister, Wolfgang Schäuble before takes the floor:" I'll just translate what Ms Lagarde said earlier, "joked the former Minister of Interior of the previous government Merkel.

On the merits, the ministers argued over several issues.They first agreed to establish a "common agenda" on a range of topics (G20 finance …). They then discussed access to bank credit for SMEs. If both countries have said that there was no reason to fear a "credit crunch", they agreed to "proposals" together. To this end, France and Germany will "exchange of experts".

Public finances have also been at the heart of discussions on Monday. The replacement of the Social Democrat Peer Steinbrueck, highly appreciated by Christine Lagarde, told the good news: the country's deficit this year would be 10 billion less than expected.For Axel Weber, Bundesbank president and also present at the meeting with his French counterpart, Christian Noyer, it "could allow Germany to return in 2012 in the nails of the European stability pact."

"Semantic shift"

The France is also changing its official position on the thorny issue of public finances. There are a few more days, Prime Minister François Fillon and 2014 set the deadline back to a deficit below 3% of GDP, with an "effort to reduce more than 1% per year. On Monday, Christine Lagarde said she supported the goal of reducing the French deficit to 3% by 2013. One year before the date officially adopted by Paris so far."If the situation is bad, we can not achieve this goal, was still eager to clarify the French Minister.

It may be a "semantic shift" – dixit Bercy – compared to what was the prime minister, but the political signal sent to our European partners and the Commission is far from negligible. Last week, the Brussels executive had asked to return to France from 2013's deficit in the nails of the Stability Pact. She considered him already granted an extension from its requirements of spring, because of "the deteriorating economic situation."

Finally, the question of the Presidency of the Eurogroup, "we will discuss in the coming weeks," said Christine Lagarde.