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Made in France is particularly popular in this pre-election period. For Adrien de Tricornot co-author of "Inevitable protectionism" is both inadequate and cons-productive for the country reindustrialise. Interview. But the tertiary sector of the labor market in France is also accompanied by a sharp drop in the industrial sector. Occupations exposed to international competition are the most exposed. Metallurgy and should lose, according to forecasts of CAS, 40 000 jobs. Made in France is particularly popular in this pre-election period. Almost all candidates have made a strategic focus of their program. Why?

In contact with opinion and their voters, candidates understand the concerns that cause deindustrialization. They are therefore obliged to provide answers, more or less satisfactory elsewhere. But behind this reaction a bit demagogic, candidates are especially becoming aware that the trade deficit is causing the budget deficit, and not vice versa. Clearly, that our problems are not related to excessive public spending but the growing industrialization of France. This is reassuring since the diagnosis is correct. Unfortunately the answers thereto are not up to par.

Why? Promote French production is not a good starting point?

This is both superficial and cons-productive. Superficial, because it does not respond to the initial problem: it's not a label or an annuity tricolor French product that we will reach reindustrialise France. Cons-productive or even dangerous, because it leads us to withdraw into ourselves when we are part of a package called the European Union. Our priority must be to bring together our models rather than opposing them. Or give the advantage to the Franco-French products require to ultimately recover from the borders between us and our European neighbors. Suffice to say that we would lose 50 years of progress and of European integration.

VAT Social Nicolas Sarkozy seem to you more able to answer the question of de-industrialization of France?

A tariff intelligent European borders seems a more appropriate response, although more difficult to implement. Anyway, create a social VAT at this time of unemployment and low growth seems particularly dangerous. Taxing consumption will lead to an immediate compression of demand, which is obviously not desirable. Conversely, the success of the device in terms of labor cost is far from clear. For the measurement to be as efficient as possible, it would take a broad base and a strong increase in VAT, which is the opposite of what the government proposes. Therefore, it seems wiser to focus on other ways to offset the decline in the cost burden as the increase in CSG for example, or the tax on financial transactions.

Germany has set up successfully …

It's time to stop with the myth of the German model. German competitiveness is not due to labor costs, but its strong specialization in heavy industry. Indeed, the country has managed to turn to high-end industry and is now enjoying growth in inequality in the world, by building machines from Chinese factories. Moreover, the German population is very different from its French neighbor, giving it the moment a comparative advantage. Anyway I think the comparison is irrelevant between the two countries. More generally, moreover, the manipulation of foreign models, often in politics, most often leads to an impoverishment of the economic debate. Remember when in the year 2000, Germany put Ireland and Britain on a pedestal …

In your book "Inevitable protectionism", you feel that the only answer to our competitiveness problem is protectionism, why?

For years, employment and value added of manufacturing French, European and U.S. are in freefall. For years, the growth of the financial system helped to hide this reality. The use of public and private debt indeed allowed to sustain growth. But the crisis of 2007 brought down the masks: after the financial bubble burst, it became impossible to restore growth. In a way or we must therefore find ways of production.

See also the discussion of Expansion: Is a new protectionism?

How?

The great ideology of free trade, still largely dominant, lulled us into the illusion that global competition could be pure and perfect, and it would lead to lower prices for people, and enrichment of the most poor. In reality, this never happened, and very quickly, new forms of protectionism (unfair) appeared. This is for example the case of the Chinese currency, now largely undervalued, and against which it is impossible to compete! It is also the case for taxation which allows some countries to attract the wealth of others. Faced with this terrible situation two possibilities: either we wait idly by our bankruptcy or they were countered by strong safeguards, but transparent and fair.

What concrete steps do you propose?

We propose to set up barriers at the borders of Europe and more generally to regionalize trade in coherent sets. The idea is to increase the price of imports from countries that do not meet a number of tax rules, social environment. At the social level, for example, one can imagine a system where we would tax the product if wage growth does not follow the increase in productivity. Thus, if the difference between the salary increase of Chinese textile worker and the average gain in productivity of the company is 15%, 15% tax on the product until the gap is not reduced. To avoid paying customs duties, the company's interest to raise wages. This can be transposed at the environmental level: all products whose manufacture has not met the criteria of the Kyoto Protocol for example could be taxed. To be completely concrete, we tried to do the math, a role for monetary dumping: on his arrival in Europe, a Chinese textiles would be taxed to the tune of at least 50%.

Europe seems you ready?

It will be long and complicated but not impossible. Especially Germany defends its interests tooth and nail, but is aware that she eminently need the euro area, the main destination of its exports. Moreover, in the European treaties, customs duties are primarily decided by qualified majority, which offers greater flexibility. However we are well aware that such measures will be implemented in a snap. It is only time to think, the risk that not only the political extremes seize the issue and distract.

Might there be not to antagonize our trading partners?

Today no one can move from Europe as a trading partner, nor the U.S. nor China, which have also not the same reservations that we resort to protectionism. Moreover, it seems that for some of our partners, our lack of reaction is analyzed almost as a sign of weakness and decadence of the West. That is why they will not be surprised to witness the awakening of Europe! When Barack Obama has increased tariffs on Chinese tires, it affected relations between the two countries for a time, and then exchanges came away with renewed vigor, as tariffs for that matter! That's why it's time to stop stigmatizing a priori protectionism, which is not comparable as such to the war or border closures as would have us believe the advocates of liberalism …

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In particular, Allianz gained 5.6% after posting a quarterly operating results better than expected and have claimed to be able to face difficult market conditions.

Earlier this afternoon, the Italian Senate approved the law of financial stability, a set of austerity measures demanded by the European Union to help the country cope with the debt crisis. Council President Silvio Berlusconi has promised to resign and make way for an emergency government once the text approved by the lower house of parliament, which is scheduled Saturday.

"The Italian rates were down significantly today.

European shares opened up, consolidating their gains from yesterday, and moving towards their best monthly performance in 30 months in the hope of resolving the debt crisis.

In Paris the CAC 40 gained 0.34% (11 points) to 3380 points to 9.30. Renault jumped 4.8%, signing the second performance of the index the day after announcing record sales in the third quarter thanks to markets outside Europe and confirmed its objective of free cash flow and sales.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of blue chips in Europe, which gained 10.6% since the beginning of the month, could register its biggest monthly increase since April 2009, although there is a decrease of 9% over the year.

The Stoxx European banking sector ahead 0.9% after jumping 8.9% the day before.The index remains down 23.5% over the year.

Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas are among the highest increases in the sector, gaining 4.3% and 3.8% on the Paris Bourse.

Exchanges could continue to rise next week in anticipation of the G20 summit on 3 and 4 November, Judge Edmund Shing, strategist at Barclays Capital actions, however, recommends that investors not to run after the market too aggressively.

"The next key event is held in just one week. Meanwhile, the shares can probably gain more ground," he said.

China on Thursday welcomed the consensus reached in the night by Europeans around a plan to end the crisis for the euro area and expressed his support for the measures announced.

After more than ten hours of the summit, the leaders of the euro area have come in the night from Wednesday to Thursday to reach an agreement on the restructuring of the Greek debt, capacity building fund to support the euro and the recapitalization of banks.

"We hope that this consensus (…) is conducive to boosting market confidence," said the spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs during a press conference."China supports the measures taken by the EU to stem the debt crisis."

"China is willing to make joint efforts to safeguard the recovery and growth of the global economy," said the spokesman, noting, without giving details, that Beijing was ready to increase its cooperation with the EU investment, trade and finance.

Chinese President Hu Jintao is scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon by telephone with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy.They will discuss in particular the next G20 summit scheduled for early November in Cannes.

Nicolas Sarkozy had announced last night that China could participate in the creation of a "special vehicle" to multiply the firepower of the European Financial Stability (EFSF), the bailout funds in the euro area.

Wall Street opened little changed on Thursday, the concern surrounding the European crisis of debt weighing on a market already made nervous by the earnings season.

Fifteen minutes after opening, the Dow Jones gained 0.2% (25 points) at 11,527 points.The Standard & Poor's, largest, took 0.2% (2.5 points) to 1212 points while the Nasdaq composite fell by 0.1% (2 points) to 2601 points.

Information from the German newspaper Die Welt, the German government that does not exclude the possibility of postponing the second time the EU summit scheduled on Sunday, has cooled investor sentiment, eager for Europe to find a plan to end the crisis.

In the process, senior sources directly involved in the preparation of the summit said they were unaware of such a project report.

Reports that the European Financial Stability (EFSF) may redeem the bonds on the secondary market under certain conditions are not sufficient to fully reassure the market.

Investors also monitor closely the earnings season that stand out far subdued. Microsoft will release its results include after-hours trading.

Yahoo gained 2.3% after asking that applicants interested in a takeover bid does not communicate with each other, while the group is probably too big to swallow for a single company, with the possible exception of Microsoft, whose title was down 0.5%.

EBay is losing more than 4% after yet announced a quarterly revenue up 32% and net profit in line with expectations of financial analysts.

The weekly jobless claims fell slightly last week in the United States at 403,000 against 409,000 the previous week and 400,000 expected.

Three parties of the government resigned Slovak and the main opposition party have agreed to support a strengthening of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), TA3 television reported Wednesday.

The leaders of three of the four parties in the coalition government had met earlier with Robert Fico, the opposition party Smer, following the rejection by members of the text EFSF reform and the resignation of the government was liable to the vote.

A new vote in Parliament to be held by no later than Friday, said Robert Fico.

The government accepted the holding of early elections in March 2012 and will remain in the opposition Smer thus far, he added.

Slovakia is the last member state of the euro area has not ratified the plan, which strengthens the powers of the EFSF to fight against the debt crisis. Ratification by each of the 17 member countries is required for its entry into force.

A spokesman of the majority party SDKU had previously indicated that a second vote in Parliament could take place as early as Thursday if an agreement was reached with Smer.

The number of Americans entering the unemployment fell to a low of five months last week, and growth figures for the second quarter were revised upward, leaving the markets expect a recession is ultimately not to fear.

The number of jobless rose to 391,000 last week, against 428,000 the one before, said Thursday the Labor Department. This figure is well above expectations, as economists on average had forecast 420,000 jobless.

The Labor Department noted, however, that its adjustments for seasonal variations may have overstated the decline in enrollment.Revised data will be published next Thursday with the first estimate figures this week.

Commerce has meanwhile announced that growth in gross domestic product (GDP) reached 1.3% in the second quarter, according to final figures.

Its previous estimate was counting on only 1.0% growth.So a return to the first estimate, which already provided 1.3% before being downgraded.

Analysts had expected an upward revision, but not as pronounced, with a final figure of 1.2%.

Consumer spending and the trade figures have finally proved better than expected.

GDP figures "suggest that the U.S. economy entered the third quarter in a position a little better.These encouraging news is reinforced by the decline more marked than expected jobless claims, which casts further doubt on the likelihood of a return to recession, "said Joe Manimbo, an analyst at Travelex Global Payments in Washington.

CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM

Political tensions between the United States the Democratic administration and the Republican side, a majority in the House of Representatives, coupled with the impact of the debt crisis in Europe, have eroded confidence and fears of a return of U.S. U.S. recession.

The cautious optimism of economists now expects a further contraction of GDP will be avoided.Production companies continue to grow because, although at a slower pace since the beginning of the recovery.

In detail, the revised figures show, in fact more of a slower growing economy as a future recession.

Export growth is better than initially estimated at 3.6% instead of 3.1%.That of imports, however, is lower at 1.4% against 1.9%.

The trade deficit is lower, and foreign trade contributed to GDP by 0.24 percentage point.

These data support Wall Street, which evolved up to 1600 GMT, while the dollar went further against the yen and the price of Treasuries retreated.

U.S. debt is regarded as a safe investment and attractive in times of uncertainty, but less coveted when the economy recovers.

All indicators are not provided to green the U.S., and the gloom is still required from contractors, according to a study by the Institute "Business Roundtable" and published on Thursday.

According to the report, the outlook for business had deteriorated for the third quarter, and the number of those planning to cut jobs over the next six months more than doubled, from 11% in the second quarter to 24%.

They are more than 65% against 87% three months ago, to provide an increase in sales and only 32% instead of 61% plan to increase their investments.

Diageo beat the consensus on Thursday with an increase of 16% of its annual profits and has set an ambitious goal of earnings growth of 10% over the medium term despite a fragile world economy, as many elements that support its share price.

The world's largest spirits, which manufactures both Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker whiskey, was a strong market growth in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

In contrast, in European countries affected by the debt crisis such as Greece, Ireland and Spain, the situation remains difficult.

But Diageo has also said he had not suffered the effects of poor weather and a sluggish demand that undermined the results of its competitor Heineken.

Diageo took action 5% to 1.173 pence to 8:40 GMT, bringing in its wake the Stoxx European sector which was growing at 0.9%.

The CEO Paul Walsh said the group expects organic growth of 6%, improved margins and earnings growth in double digits over the medium term.

"Although Diageo is not protected by a fragile world economy, it is a solid platform (…) Achieving these objectives would support an even stronger growth in the dividend," said Paul Walsh in a statement.

"We finished the year strongly.The months of July and August following the same path and we are confident for the past two months, "said the CFO Deirdre Lahlan.

Diageo has published earnings per share before items of 83.6 pence, beating both the Reuters SmartEstimate (78.9 pence) and its own consensus (79.1 pence) in its fiscal year ended in late June

The annual dividend has increased from 6% to 40.4 pence.

The turnover of the group increased by 2% to 9.9 billion pounds and operating profit by 5%.

The action gained 4.5% to 1,168 pence in London Stock Exchange. It outperformed the FTSE 100 by 10% since the beginning of the year.It outperformed 12% of the work world number two Pernod Ricard, which must publish its annual accounts on September 1.

"The goals themselves require a great deal of confidence in the company but also that management feels obliged to be up on that platform," said Michael Bleakley, an analyst at Credit Suisse.

EuropaCorp, the production company of Luc Besson, Thursday reaffirmed its goal of a return to balance for the current year, despite a sharp decline in sales in the first quarter.

The group of film production and distribution, which has suffered a loss of more than 30 million euros in the previous year, in particular, suffered from the sharp decline in revenue in French cinemas.

In the first quarter (April-June), they reached 2.1 million against 5.6 million in the corresponding period of 2010, despite the release of "The Tree of Life", Palme d'Or at Cannes.The latest installment of director Terrence Malik has exceeded 800,000 entries at the end of June, EuropaCorp said in a statement.

Throughout the first quarter, its sales totaled 19.2 million, against 23 million during the same period last year, down 16.5%.

The television business in France, however, pulls out of the game with a jump of 60.5% of its revenue to EUR 6.1 million, bolstered by the signing of agreements for the distribution on the small screen "Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec".

The group reaffirms its objective to return to profitability by the end of the year with the implementation of its strategic plan which includes a reduction in overhead costs and more rigorous management and the development of productions for television.

Before the publication of results, the stock closed Thursday at 3.20 euros to balance a market capitalization of 65 million euros. Since the beginning of the year it was down almost 30%.

European shares ended Friday's session down sharply, recording their worst weekly performance since March, after the announcement of a U.S. growth lower than expected, confirming fears of a market downturn United States.

The benchmark index of the Paris ended down 1.07% at 3672.77 points, according to preliminary closing level, computing the final level being delayed by a technical problem that disrupted the market for 3:30 p.m. at 5:08 p.m..During the meeting, the CAC 40 fell to its lowest level since December 1 at 3630.75 points (-2.2%) just after the U.S. GDP.

For the week, the temporary loss of the CAC 40 was 4.42%.

Among the largest declines including the title Veolia Environnement losing 9.5% after announcing the implementation of further restructuring and a redeployment of its activities and asset sales, which led him to abandon its goals.

The losses, however, were limited by the speech given by reassuring thought Barack Obama for an agreement is reached on raising the U.S. debt.

Other major European markets also ended down: the FTSE 100 in London ended down by 0.99% and the Dax in Frankfurt at 0.44%.

The Milan Stock Exchange lost 0.67% and 0.27% in Madrid.

Of the European indices, the FTSEurofirst 300 yielded 0.65%.