The victory of the socialist candidate for the French presidential election of Nicolas Sarkozy is the eleventh leader of the ousted euro area since the outbreak of the crisis and the implementation of austerity policies imposed by Germany and aimed at the curb. 

"I'm sure in many European countries Caa was a relief, a hope, that finally the idea of ​​austerity could no longer be inevitable "said Francois Hollande, in a speech at his election night.

"That's what I say as soon as possible to our European partners and first in Germany," he said.

Francois Hollande has been negotiating a pact designed to complement growth of the fiscal pact, signed in early March by 25 of the 27 countries of the European Union, a of his campaign themes. 

His election of Francois Hollande with 51.6% against 48.4% in the outgoing President Nicolas Sarkozy, argued that German Chancellor Angela Merkel does not lift all the political uncertainties that will last at least until the legislatures of 10 and 17 June

In Greece, the results of parliamentary elections confirm the expected scenario of a sharp fall in two main formations.

The conservative New Democracy and PASOK Socialists, who run alternately in decades, pay their support for draconian austerity measures taken since early 2010 in exchange for international financial assistance. 

SETBACKS FOR MERKEL

The breakthrough of the Coalition of the Radical Left hostile to the austerity and the entry of small parties in parliament, whose far-right "Golden Dawn", will make very difficult to find a majority and likely to fuel speculation about a renegotiation of the latest bailout plan or to an output of Greece in the euro area.

Fears deemed excessive by the economists of the investment bank Barclays Capital who point out that the Greeks remain overwhelmingly favorable to the euro but do not rule out political instability that would require the new elections later this year. 

"The risk is that non-European investors found a mistrust vis-à-vis the euro area rather marked," however, warns Philippe Waechter, an economist of the company ; Management Natixis Asset Management.

In Germany, the Christian Democrats (CDU) suffered another setback in losing the electoral state of Schleswig-Holstein region where the formation of Merkel saved her worst score since 1950.

The vote next week in the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous nation, will also be closely watched to assess the popularity of the policy conducted by the Chancellor and the accession of German voters to European solidarity. 

The partial municipal Italy, which will continue Monday, are a test on more than nine million voters, or 20% of the electorate, the government expert Mario Monti, again full cure austerity.

The first election of the post-Berlusconi give the measure of the distrust of the Italians against their political leaders to a year of parliamentary elections in May 2013.

The electoral cycle in May will end with the Irish referendum on the new European fiscal pact, already ratified by three EU countries including Greece.

SHORT RESPITE

After a short respite allowed by the injection of more than one.000 billion euros of liquidity between late December and early March by the European Central Bank, tensions on sovereign debt are quickly reappeared.

Investors are worried because of the growing political and social pressure against austerity plans which they fear above all that they do not favor a relapse into recession economies most weakened by the crisis and with them the entire euro area.

If Spain, officially fallen into recession in first quarter, is in sight, the gap between the wages offered by the sovereign debt of Germany and that of almost all ; other European countries has increased in recent weeks. 

European policymakers have however begun to recognize and formally accept a lesson of economic history that no country wants out of a debt crisis by focusing only on austerity, this strategy has always resulted in either a depression or a default.

From the European Council in January and more at the March, the EU officials had stressed the need to complement fiscal consolidation by "measures determined ; are to stimulate growth and employment ". 

They had then discussed several tracks, as a better mobilization of structural funds, a means of strengthening the European Investment Bank or the possibility of bond issues at European level in order facilitate private financing of major projects, referring to the definition of terms in June of that support growth.

The willingness of the new French president throughout his campaign to promote European growth initiative in this context had met with a favorable in both countries weakened ; s like Italy and the European Commission but also in Germany and even the European Central Bank (ECB). 

Its intention to renegotiate the pact budget has however met with strong opposition, especially from Germany who does not intend to return to the priority given to fiscal consolidation.

His call for a more active role for the ECB to stimulate the economy through lower interest rates or direct loans to countries in difficulty also faces hostility from Germany.

POSSIBLE COMPROMISE

Even before his election, Francois Hollande, however inflected speech suggesting that the renegotiation of the pact would be part of budget negotiations with its European partners. 

The president-elect has also been careful to avoid referring to possible Eurobonds, of which Germany does not want to hear because they would constitute a first step towards pooling of European public debt that Berlin rejects.

Francois Hollande now prefers to discuss project requirements, an expression consistent with that used by other heads of state and government of the EU.

A compromise is therefore possible, but the size and financing of a possible growth strategy remain unclear. 

A mounting tensions on sovereign debt would leave the ECB in the immediate front line but also exacerbate the pressure for a stronger commitment on his part to alleviate the costs of funding all States in the euro area and encourage growth.

If he felt that the euro area needed a "Growth Pact", the ECB president also stressed that support for the activity should not be detrimental fiscal discipline.

"Recent comments by Mario Draghi, defending the idea of ​​a growth strategy implemented by European governments is primarily a way to avoid a debate on the mandate of the ECB could be refocused on growth, "say the economists and Exane BNP Paribas.

In early trade, the Dow Jones dropped 0.46% to 12,890.00 points. The Standard & Poor's, wider, yielding 0.47% to 1,379.40 while the Nasdaq composite retreated 0.48% to 2725.50.

Performance of public debt to 10 years Spain has exceeded 5.9% after the publication by the ECB shows that Spanish banks have been steadily increasing their borrowing at the ECB in March.

Moreover, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China rose 8.1% annual rate in the first quarter, the lowest figure recorded in nearly three years.

"The number of Chinese GDP is weaker than expected while anyone had used it as pretext to rise yesterday," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist for Miller Tabak & Co. 

Bank stocks are also oriented downward despite better than expected results published by JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo.

Both titles lose respectively 1.18% and 1.88%.

Google also declined, its quarterly earnings above the consensus being overshadowed by a further deterioration in the profitability of its advertising links. The action gives up 2.8%.

"We need to cut unnecessary costs, streamline the sectors that do not work well, because if we do not, we can not guarantee the viability of the system," said Minister of Economy, Luis de Guindos, invited the SER radio.

The government of Mariano Rajoy last week presented a draft budget for 2012 includes € 27 billion reduction in public spending as part of a reorganization plan intended to bring the public deficit to 5.3% of GDP against 8.5% last year.

Expected savings on health and education in addition to this effort. 

The Spanish health system, shared between central government and executives of the 17 autonomous regions, is a debt of 15 billion euros.

According to Luis de Guindos, one of the lines of inquiry could focus on free public health services offered to the Spaniards, whatever their income.

"We need to open the debate, both within the central government in the regions, on whether health should be free for someone earning 100,000 euros (per year)", said the minister. 

In terms of education, Spanish media report that the government would consider a lower number of teachers, that would offset an increase in the number of students per class , and higher tuition fees in universities.

The Popular Party (PP) Mariano Rajoy, who has an absolute majority in Parliament, also controls eleven of the 17 autonomous regions.

Talanx owns 50.2% of the third global reinsurer.

Hannover said Wednesday he planned to pay a dividend of 2.10 euros per share on the results of 2011 against 2.30 euros in 2010, when net income was integrated ; a capital gain tax.

Net income for 2011 is 606 million euros, according to preliminary results published on 13 February and well above its target of at least 500 million .

After three sessions of declines, the Nikkei index is back above the 9,700 point mark, gaining 192.90 points to 9,768.96 and the Topix broader, took 13.45 Points (1.63%) to 836.16.

The trend was also supported by a Wall Street Journal suggesting that the Fed is considering a new approach to bond buybacks.

Values, the technology has benefited from a presentation by Apple's new version of its iPad tablet.

Toshiba took 1.77% and 4.1% Electronics Renesas.

On profit taking, the Paris Bourse has sold 0.21% (7.30 points) to 3,465.24 points. The pan-European index Stoxx 50 fell 0.34%, the German Dax is 0.58% and 0.29% FTSE UK.

Trading volumes on the pan-European FTSEurofirst index was 22% thinner than usual, a sign that investors have not rushed to the exit after obtaining a agreement on Greece, much preferring a wait.

The agreement, torn by the euro area at night, after thirteen hours of negotiations, plans to reduce Greece's debt to 120.5% of GDP by 2020 through a new program of public loans of 130 billion euros and a restructuring of debt held by private creditors.

Highly anticipated by the markets, the plan is not a miracle cure for all ills of Greece. Strangled by his austerity measures, the country will return to growth until 2014, after four years of recession that have reduced the gross domestic product (GDP) 17% believe senior European officials.

Meanwhile, the aid package to Greece may yet derail and Greek debt explode to unmanageable levels by 2020, according to a confidential report prepared by "troika" of the country's international creditors.

Yields on debt issued by the 'peripheral' countries of the euro area eased in favor of the agreement. Sign of an easing in the bond markets, Spain issued in the morning 2.5 billion euros of debt in three to six months, with yields down by sharp the previous auction of this type.

The euro rose to 1.3270 dollars around him after reaching 1.3292 to the dollar after the announcement of an agreement on the Greek plan.

Signs that debt problems are not confined to Greece, the European Commission will propose Wednesday to suspend payments from the Cohesion Fund for Hungary from 2013, due to lack Budapest progress in reducing its budget deficit, shows a document of the EU executive.

CGT plant at ArcelorMittal Gandrange (Moselle) presented Friday a draft EAF, which the union could "save" the site where a mill still operates steel supplied from Germany. "We offer ArcelorMittal to invest 120 million euros in the construction of an electric furnace to supply the local mill," said Jacky Mascelli to reporters, one of the leaders of the CGT at the factory Grandrange. "To produce the steel that we now come to Duisburg (Germany), we propose to use the scrap produced in the region, notably by the automotive industry," he said.  

For the CGT, the factory "integrated" (steelmaking-continuous casting-rolling) "will guarantee the sustainability of the site Gandrange" which still employ about 350 steelworkers, against more than 1,000 before the closure of the steelworks in March 2009 . The project presented Friday by the CGT looks like that the union had presented in March 2008 and which already provided for the construction of an electric oven "scrap all" to enhance the mill crowns and bars Gandhinagar, one of the only active for long products in Europe. The draft will now be "carried" by the Left Front, several representatives were present Friday in Lorraine.

Since its closure, the steelworks Grandrange is regularly pointed to by the left as one of the failures of the quinquennium of Nicolas Sarkozy. February 4, 2008, following his marriage to Carla Bruni and after a highly publicized visit to the factory Moselle, the president pledged to support the state "all or part of investment required "to keep the mill operating.

The Nikkei gained 97.27 points to 8,929.20 points and the Topix broader took 9.16 points (1.2%) to 769.85 points.

"It's pretty good for exporters," said Nicholas Smith, a specialist at CLSA Japan, commenting on the monthly report on employment in the United States that showed Friday that unemployment had fallen ; to its lowest level in nearly three years.

Panasonic has taken the title of the session 6.34% after touching a low of more than 30 years Friday, in response to a forecast of record annual loss amounting to ; eight billion euros.

In its "beige book" summary of economic conditions in the 12 districts of the U.S. central bank, the Fed also notes that the pressures on consumer prices remained moderate and some cost pressures had decreased.

This finding is likely to give more leeway to the Fed in terms of monetary easing if growth were to weaken in early 2012 because of the consequences of global activity in the European debt crisis.

For now, the report confirms what had already been said in the latest "Beige Book" dated: the growth of the economy is not threatened, but the conditions underlying depression can not lower the unemployment rate, currently 9%.

"Overall, economic activity grew at a slow to moderate pace since the last report (…) except the district of St.