International & World Report

By staying close to four hours this morning at the Salon de l'Agriculture in Paris, Nicolas Sarkozy has tried to erase the minds that it does not come to inaugurate the event on Saturday. A tour which began at 8 am 30 and held in two parts of two hours each. Initially, the Head of State met the cattle exhibitors in Hall 1, then those of the crop of Hall 2 in a general rush but channeled. A friendly atmosphere, where the applause and encouragement have predominated, but without any measure with the ovation the day reserved for Jacques Chirac. A few hisses were heard but no more, on the stairs connecting the two lobbies.

Then, the president has organized and is a first, a roundtable with all unions representing farm.And just FNSEA, the majority union in which a delegation had been received yet at the Elysee Palace on Wednesday. "This is a first, previously only FNSEA attended this kind of round table across the national council of agriculture," Henin said Frederick, who follows the industry for over ten years for the publication Net farm land.

800 million in soft loans

It was during this interview, which was attended also by representatives of agribusiness, insurance and banks, totaling about twenty representatives, the president has announced measures to help the industry out crisis. "I will do for the French and European agriculture that we have done to save the funds, has hammered Nicolas Sarkozy. I will not give an inch. "However, he made a cross on the methods of the past to support the agricultural sector."There are ways that you borrowed last twenty years, those exchanges of price subsidies cons, we can not borrow more now," he said. For ten years later, he must repay. The Head of State was referring to 500 million euros of aid from Brussels retoquées this summer and fruit growers are expected to repay. "The solutions we have selected to ensure price breeders are legal. In addition to plan emergency aid announced four months ago to Poligny in the Jura, Nicolas Sarkozy has put on the table over 850 million.

In detail, this breaks down as follows: 800 million for subsidized loans, which now reach 1.8 billion euros, against 1.5 billion originally projected in the plan Poligny. "All loan applications will be present and honored," said the tenant of the Elysee.They are also 50 million more who will go to farmers under the FCC (relief fund expenses). They serve to alleviate the financial costs of borrowing old. Moreover, the decree to allow the exemption of all charges employers for employers of seasonal fruits and vegetables, appear at the end of the month. A measure of 170 million already announced in the Jura, which should give a better competitiveness in the sector, with a decline of two-euro cost of the hourly labor progress.

"A new method of environmental measures"

Also on the environmental front, the President said that farmers had already done much. "I believe in sustainable agriculture, yet it need to change.I asked Bruno Le Maire and Jean-Louis Borloo to hold next week a first working group around a new method of analysis of environmental measures in agriculture, "he said. This working group is working on three areas: an analysis of what is happening with our European neighbors, a study of the economic and social impact on patterns and quantification of benefit to society. The President recalled that farmers across the prairies, it possible to store CO2. Interest so as to avoid wastage of the agricultural land disappearing at a rate of one department every ten years. A 10% tax will apply to all sales of these lands as they become farmland.

Finally, in the debate on the future of the CAP, which must be reviewed before 2013, Nicolas Sarkozy said he was prepared to reduce the budget by more than 50 billion euros on condition that farmers live with decent prices and we apply the Community preference.

With the announcement of these measures were mixed unions, most tanks are those of the Confederation Paysanne. "These are interesting and go in the right direction. But they are not sufficient, he should go to the social VAT to make agriculture more competitive French, "said Francis Lucas President of the Rural Coordination. FNSEA has in turn welcomed the easing of environmental benefits."Without denying the objectives of sustainable development, we can not ask for more investment in heavier farmers if there is no remunerative prices and incomes, reacted Jean-Michel Lemetayer, president of the FNSEA. Agriculture should not be steel or textiles of tomorrow, "he added.

Around 12:30, the President closed the debate by promising to review the parties present three times a year to make a point with their monitoring of current files. "I was happy to be with you," he said in the twenty participants.

ALSO READ

"Agricultural Fair under the banner of the Vendee for Sarkozy

"Nicolas Sarkozy discrete Agriculture Exhibition

»BLOG Eric La Chesnais – The pen in the fields

In a large show held at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, Guillaume Pepy, the SNCF President, presented the major innovations that the railway was completed or tested in 2009, and especially those which it has proceed in the years to come. Some of them concern the heavy infrastructure such as Highway Railway Luxembourg-Perpignan, whose rate of rotation has been doubled to four daily return. Also programmed a line Bayonne-Lille and medium-term line of Great Britain to Italy through France.

The key innovations, however, concerns the field of multimedia.And such service "station line", available on 3G phone, which lists 600 stations to allow users to know the times of departure and arrival of trains, the number of platforms, location or price of the car … In 2010, SNCF will launch a radio, a little image of FM Highway, we will receive on his mobile phone or Internet. With a team of 30 journalists, all 15 minutes will flash information on traffic conditions and disturbances. Between the flashes, there is provided a musical thread, who wants very heterogeneous because it will "attract a clientele that ranges from 7 to 77 years.

Tariff Schedule

On the website "Voyages SNCF, a tariff schedule will allow customers to better understand and especially to see ticket prices depending on the train. A first version for small prize will be available in first quarter 2010.After the air is the railway, through the barcode and card flyer, opening gradually to the e-ticket, thereby avoiding the printed ticket. Tested over 14 destinations in 2009, this service will be extended in 2010 to all France, and international relations with Luxembourg, Switzerland and Germany.

Finally, the SNCF will use the experience of Thalys on Internet connection and gradually equip the 52 TGV Est network. Thus, passengers traveling to Metz, Nancy and Strasbourg can surf the Internet while traveling. An investment whose cost is 500,000 euros per ream.

In the field of health, SNCF began to equip the trains of the TGV defibrillators. Since last summer, 150 stations have been equipped. It's now the turn of the TGV trains to the East and Switzerland. Eventually, the entire network will be equipped.An investment of 10 million euros for 2,000 defibrillators.

In the competitive global economy, information is a strategic data. A leak on a response to tender may lose a market. Data protection is a key issue for companies, as control of its communication. To educate businesses, particularly SMEs, to these strategic challenges, the Supreme Council of Military Reserve organized a seminar on Wednesday and Thursday at the Hotel National des Invalides in Paris.

Having explained the concept of intelligence and have identified the countries most active in the field, mainly Anglo-Saxons and China, methodologies have been submitted for planning an operation to protect its information or develop an operational decision.Each topic is synthesized in a small pamphlet, a "Survey" conducted by the consulting firm Strategy ITB, downloadable from its website. "A fifth Handbook, explaining how to develop a strategy of influence, will be available soon," said Brice de Gliame, CEO of ITB. "These concise booklets are intended to help businesses be more competitive, while remaining within the law."

Speakers at the seminar and participating companies explain the challenges of these military methods suitable for businesses: