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The European Union and the United States imposed sanctions on Syria to stop the repression. The Arab League will soon follow suit. But these measures will be effective to bring down President Bashar al-Assad? Not so simple … Demonstration against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Istanbul.

After the United States and the European Union, the Arab League threat of economic sanctions against Syria. The organization includes Saoudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt imposed an ultimatum: if the power does not stop the violence against his people, the organization will hit the country in the PORTFOLIO. But these economic sanctions have their limits. Explanations.

Imposing the sanctions and how?

So far, it is especially the European Union has shown.Moreover, tourism is affected: it reported 6 to 7 billion euros last year and represents 12% of GDP. "The economic machine is running at 40% of its resources today," said Hasni Abidi, director of the Centre for Studies in the Arab world (CERMAM). The possible sanctions of the Arab League at the end of their ultimatum could further exacerbate an already fragile economy. "States of the Arab League import a lot of fruits, vegetables and grains, Syria has a highly developed agriculture. If you stop overnight, these imports, it's a catastrophe for the country," said the researcher. The situation is so delicate that the Minister of Economy has just imposed a drain of $ 10 on the salaries of civil servants to bail out the state.

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European shares were down sharply in early trade, including sealed by the decision of the Greek Prime Minister to submit to referendum the agreement on the resolution of the crisis of sovereign debt in the eurozone.

"The risk is that a 'no' to the Greeks do completely derail the rescue efforts. With a vote expected in January, I can truly say goodbye to the rally of the season," said a trader based in Paris.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of volatility, a "barometer of fear" in the financial markets, jumped 20% in opening sign of the strong concern room.

In Paris the CAC 40 fell 3.3% to 9:40, passing below the 3200 to 3135 points, weighed by banks.

Gold was well on Monday to undergo its biggest drop in three days the last 28 years, investors are turning away from commodity markets to protect themselves from the potential impact of a default on the remaining Greek countries in the euro area.

"Gold is one of the few assets that remained in positive territory this year (…), so when investors are looking for money, they sell assets that have underperformed.Basically, gold is a victim of its own success, "wrote in a note Edel Tully, an analyst at UBS.

The price of spot gold was trading at 1,623.19 dollars per ounce to 11:25 GMT, down some 3%.

During the last three days, gold has fallen nearly 10%, its biggest decline in this time interval since February 1983.

"This shows that in times of extreme stress, there is no adequate substitute for liquidity," said Tom Kendall, an analyst at Credit Suisse.

Gold has dropped more than $ 100 last Friday's rebound against the greenback and rumors of liquidation of positions by large hedge funds.

The lack of consensus for a solution to the crisis of sovereign debt in the euro area has pushed gold to new heights this year, reaching more than 1,900 dollars per ounce.

"The increase in the volatility of gold prices was a clear indication that gold was no longer a low-risk assets," said Nic Brown, on commodities strategist at Natixis.

Bank stocks were the main victims of a new Black Monday stock market. But according to Dominique Dequidt, fund manager at KBL Richelieu, concerns about them are exaggerated.

Fears about the banking stocks have been very heavy on Monday on all European markets. In Paris, Societe Generale tumbled 8.64% to 20.25 euros, signing the largest decrease in the CAC 40. BNP Paribas lost 6.34% to 31.30 euros, Crédit Agricole (-5.51% to 5.84 euros) and Natixis (-5.68% to 2.55 euros). In the background, the difficulties of Greece, the threat of a lawsuit in the United States against 16 banks – including Societe Generale – for their responsibility in the subprime crisis, and the desire to recapitalize European banks by the IMF .Dominique Dequidt but remains optimistic.

What are the fears about banks today?

First, the gradual disappearance of the sovereign rating in Greece opened the door to further degradation, Ireland and Portugal in the lead. This is one of the great fears in the market today. Investors fear losses that may result in banking stocks that are exposed. Indeed some of the U.S. money market funds that had liquidity of investments in Europe have rather taken off the market last week. The second point is the deterioration of the American note in the summer. She amplified these fears and stoked fears of slowing global growth.

These fears are justified?

It is not really justified, at least in the short term. It is mainly a crisis of confidence that undermines the market.But look closer, banks are healthy. When we look at the credits granted by banking institutions in Europe, there is no need to panic. They rose 3% in the first quarter and 4% in the second. And despite a rather European growth at half the second quarter.

Banks are robust enough to withstand the risk of European sovereign debt and the threat of global recession?

Yes, in the event that we are not witnessing a collapse of the banking system. But there is no need to be as alarmist as the IMF on the recapitalization of banks. They have made big profits in the first half. BNP Paribas, despite its 450 million refinancing of provisions in the Greek debt, posted a profit of more than 2 billion euros in the first quarter.

But banks are very fearful to lend to each other.The level of cash placed with the European Central Bank has reached 151 billion euros Friday …

We are in a tense situation since the beginning of August the fears are heavy on the strength of some banks. Hence the difficulty they face to lend to each other. This level is certainly high compared to six months ago. But we are still far from the amounts of their outstanding 2008 in which the ECB had reached astronomical levels.

The trial of the U.S. federal government against 16 global banks – including the general society – he may weigh on an already difficult climate?

I do not think, at least for France and Europe. They are not involved in the trial. And regarding the risks of fines, it is called, in the extreme case, a sentence that would amount to hundreds of millions of euros.This is a difficult but there is no major concern to have.

To what extent can we expect an impact on the real economy if the situation worsens?

Banks have made a big effort on their balance sheets, it is not in the same situation of overheating than during the crisis. They are now well prepared for the state of distrust of the markets. But the phenomenon of double-dip recession may occur. 3 months ago investors imagined a soft landing in growth after the good figures of 2010. Today expectations are more cautious, and go up to imagine a recession in 2012.

The former minister mentioned the figure of 15 to 20 billion savings if the state gave shares in France Telecom, Aéroports de Paris, or Renault.

Patrick Devedjian (UMP) has called for Monday to resume the privatization of companies where the State is a party, seeing it as a deposit "of 15 to 20 billion euros."

Europe 1, former Minister launched as an example of struggle against deficits "are repeated privatization. There are considerable resources in terms of privatization."

He shelled several examples: "France Telecom, the state controls 27%. Me, I propose to sell 13.5%. It represents 4.7 billion."

"Airport of Paris. We do not have to keep control as powerful state of ADP. It is 3 billion. Renault, we have 15% of Renault. We sell.Air France we have 15%, we sell, "he said.

"Just on privatization, we can make 15-20000000000," summarized Mr. Devedjian. In more general terms, he said that Nicolas Sarkozy, the best candidate in his eyes to the right must, for the victory in 2012, presenting "an overall important and mind-blowing."

"If it is to have a policy that constitutes a system of patches that we deal with accidents one after the other, it is not convincing," he said. "When I see the left that has no project" is "a chance for our side if we come up with something strong, innovative," said the former leader of the UMP

The government announced Wednesday the introduction of a windfall tax on higher income from a battery of measures to ensure deficit reduction despite economic growth less vigorous than expected.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon spoke at a press conference an outstanding contribution of 3% on income tax reference above 500,000 euros.

He also announced a further step to reduce tax loopholes in the 2012 budget, an increase in tobacco taxes (6%) and alcohol and the inclusion of overtime in the calculation of general relief of charges.

The measures announced will yield one billion euros in 2011 and 11 billion in 2012, he said.

Fitch Ratings said Wednesday it lowered its rating on Cyprus of "A-" to "BBB", but considered likely that the country has to rely on outside help to ensure its funding needs.

The rating agency said its new rating, which is attached a negative outlook, taking into account the fiscal slippage and expectations of seeing the country no longer have access to capital markets during the second half of 2011.

Fitch added that it could deteriorate further note of Cyprus about new fiscal slippage and a lack of political will to implement austerity measures.

Fitch is the decommissioning of a few weeks after those of Moody's and Standard & Poor's.

The new Cypriot government on Wednesday introduced an austerity plan of 600 million euros, consisting mainly of tax increases, to reduce the public deficit to 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012.

PPR saw its operating performance brought by luxury semi which enjoys an application whose force can not be denied.

The luxury group and distribution, which owns Gucci, Puma, Redcats and Fnac, saw sales rise by 7.3% in the first half to 7.2 billion, a figure close to the consensus of analysts polled by Reuters (7 , 13 billion).

Like Hermes, LVMH and Burberry, before him, the luxury division of PPR has far exceeded analysts' expectations, with organic growth of 23.2% and 24.4% in the second quarter alone (against 19% expected), marking a further acceleration from a leap of 22% in the first quarter.

In contrast, the distribution center, to be sold by the group, saw its sales fall by 1.4% semi-annual (on a comparable basis), weighed down by poor performance of FNAC (-3.2%) to facing an extremely difficult environment in France, while Redcats (Distance Selling) fared better (0.8%).

The sporting goods company Puma has seen its sales increase by 9.4%.

Current operating income rose 14.5% to 749 million euros (730 million expected) and net income excluding items increased 24% to 466 million euros.

The title PPR closed at 129.85 euros at the Paris Stock Exchange Thursday, signing a 9% increase since the beginning of the year, for a market capitalization of 16.3 billion euros.

At these levels of price, value is treated on valuation multiples of 13.4 times its estimated earnings for 2012, far behind the "pure" players like LVMH luxury (19 times) and Richemont (16.4 times).

According to Bercy, the index of the quality of care in the state services has been improving by three points in the second quarter. The overall index of satisfaction of users reaches 81%. Event officials in Paris in January 2009.

The quality of public services is improving, with an index up slightly to 81% (1% compared to March 2011), as the third barometer made by the Department of Budget and released Monday. The general revision of public policies (RGPP), resulting in the non-replacement of an official two retiring, aims to improve the quality of services. To evaluate this, indicators have been established in hundreds of services and users from 3000 to measure the reception, processing of service and claims processing.

According to Bercy, the index of the quality of care in the state services has been improving by three points to 57% (against 54% in March 2011). However, it is down sharply for replies to emails within five working days to 49% (-11 points), for referral to the right service to 62% (-7) or responses to a phone call least five rings in 77% (-3). For treatment approaches, the university and employment center are good students: 61% of first vows satisfied (17%) in the direction of the university, and 95.5% (+9.5%) unemployed compensation within 15 days.

The process to obtain a passport in less than two weeks (91%) or housing assistance within 15 days (83%) increased by one point over March 2011.Eight other indicators remain stable: 77% of patients (to a target rate of 80%) are covered in less than four hours emergencies, the average response time of police in case of attack is 13 minutes, 85% of people retiring received a record of career fair.

Applications for correction to tax are satisfied, 95% a month to month and the average time for reimbursement of care leaves by social security remained stable (3.3 days per mail, 10 days for paper).

Volvo has maintained its forecast for Friday sales of trucks in 2011 while posting a result almost in line with expectations, which has helped jump title at the opening of the Exchange.

"During the second quarter, sales of Volvo continued to grow as a result of a steady recovery in mature markets and strong demand from emerging markets," said CEO Leif Johansson.

The Swedish group has reported an operating profit up 60% to 7.65 billion Swedish crowns (840 million) in the second quarter, against a forecast 7.67 billion in a Reuters poll.

Volvo still expects to sell this year between 230,000 and 240.000 trucks in Europe, and North America.

It also anticipates a recovery of the Japanese market after a decline of 26% in first half due to the earthquake that struck the country in March.

"Over the year, about 23,000 heavy goods vehicles should be sold in the Japanese market, representing a decline of 6%," announced the group.

Title Volvo opened up almost 5% at the Stockholm Stock Exchange.

Volvo has instead lowered its outlook for its second largest division, construction equipment, a growth of between 20% and 30% growth between 15% and 25%.

"The Chinese market is weakening due to the actions taken by the government to control inflation", said the group, adding that he has also strengthened its dominant position in this market.