EDF and GDF will, from next year, reimburse their customers within 15 days of issuance of the annual bill or the subscriber's request, in case of overpayment exceeding 25 euros, according to a decree of April 18 published in the Official Journal (OJ). "During the contract, when the invoice based on energy consumption reveals an overpayment by the contractor less than 25 euros, the excess is carried forward to the next invoice, unless the consumer requests a refund" states that Order, which comes into force on 1 January 2013. "From this amount, the overpayment is refunded by the supplier," the statement said, adding that "the refund is made within fifteen days from the issuance of the invoice or the customer's request ".

Billing of the two suppliers is based on an estimate of consumption for customers who choose the monthly payment, with an annual bill of regularization based on actual consumption. "It has taken up several times to the plate and the publication of an official report to achieve this decree," said Bruno Lechevin, managing director of energy ombudsman, the daily Le Parisien on Friday which states that during the first quarter, 3.2% of complaints received by the Ombudsman were related to reimbursement of overpayments. "In 2011, EDF had made and pin: the utility reimbursement to amounts of less than 15 euros if the customers were demanding," said the newspaper. EDF now states on its website monthly installments if the client has paid a sum greater than its invoice regularization, the credit balance is refunded "by bank transfer within 15 days."

In May 2011, the supplier had agreed to reimburse "now" and automatically overpayments of all invoices to its customers after termination of their contract (move). The group previously had a policy not to refund overpayments of less than € 15.24 if customers were not doing the requests. Parliament passed a provision in the Law on Organization of the New Electricity Markets (Nome) of 7 December 2010 so that energy suppliers are now required to systematically repay overpayments to consumers.

The agreement doubles the capacity of the IMF loan, which was the goal set by its Executive Director Christine Lagarde at the opening meetings of the IMF and World Bank this weekend.

"There are firm commitments to increase resources available to the IMF more than $ 430 billion, in addition to the planned quota increase under the reform of 2010" , declared in a statement the finance ministers and central bankers from the G20, referring to the project to give emerging countries a say in the larger fund.

Francois Brottes believes that the Competition Authority "issued an indictment against the policy of opening the French electricity market" in favor of the review of a decree implementing this law. 

The system "will strengthen the speculative nature of the electricity market in France and will further increase prices, since it will impact the electric bill of consumers to the tune of '200 to 500 million Euros per year, according to the Authority, "he says in a statement.

"A few days before an election critical to the future of France, it is urgent to suspend enforcement of the law Nome. Let the French can choose between two conceptions of e Energy: speculative, or public good, "he adds.

New organization of the French electricity market (Nome) allows alternative suppliers to buy electricity from EDF Nuclear, within an overall limit of 25% of the production capacity. Since 1 January, the resale price is set at 42 euros a megawatt hour.

New episode of the clash between remote Nicolas Sarkozy and Anne Lauvergeon. Incumbent President said Tuesday that it had terminated the functions of Anne Lauvergeon at the head of Areva because she was "unable to work in harmony with EDF". "Ms. Lauvergeon, we asked him to leave his post for some reason is very simple, was that she was unable to work in harmony with EDF, "he said on France Inter.  

Asked about its incompatibility with the current CEO of EDF Proglio, considered close to Nicolas Sarkozy, the head of state assured that "with the previous (Gadonneix, ed), it was exactly the same thing ". Ms. Lauvergeon "did everything to remain as head of Areva," she "came to me countless times," he insisted, "if it had been in disagreement with the policy as I was driving to the nuclear, one wonders why she wanted to stay. "

"This is someone I respect, I kept at the head of Areva that I had even known (…) we can not say that he mistreated her," continued the President UMP candidate and confirming that he was offered a post in his government. "See Ms. Lauvergeon now explain how she suffered with me, when she was a president of Areva who wanted to stay, who wished by all means remain president of Areva, all these people who, once that they left their posts, say 'my God as we suffered when + they wanted to stay, it's pretty outrageous, "he – he concluded.

In an interview last week in the weekly L'Express and a book, Ms. Lauvergeon, old Sherpa of François Mitterrand, ousted in 2011 by the Government of the head of champion French nuclear company, denounced the methods of the CEO of EDF Proglio, reveals some of his conversations with Nicolas Sarkozy, accusing the government for consideration until 2010 to sell a nuclear reactor to Libya's Colonel Gaddafi. Again, Nicolas Sarkozy denies.

"I have not consorted with Gaddafi"

"There was never a central issue to sell to Mr. Gaddafi and let me tell you that if there is a head of state who in the world, has not paved with Gaddafi and is responsible for his departure and what happened to him, I think maybe it's me, "Sarkozy said in response to a question from a listener on France Inter. When visiting the controversial Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Paris in December 2007, the Head of State announced to reporters, after an initial interview with the Libyan leader that France had signed the signature of "tens of billions" of euros of contracts with Libya …… These agreements

…, he cited "collaboration contracts for desalination of seawater with a nuclear reactor for armaments cooperation, different economic contracts ". Lauvergeon accused the government of having planned until 2010 to sell the nuclear reactor. "This is a blatant lie (…) it has never been involved," insisted Tuesday Nicolas Sarkozy, "I remind you that if Benghazi was saved and if Gaddafi is gone, it is because that France intervened. " "There is still a logic. We can obviously angry with me for a whole bunch of things but we can not blame me for the inconsistency. In Libya it is France that led the operation, it is France with the UK, "he said.

"So, between those who say that Gaddafi paid my campaign, the other we wanted to offer a nuclear power plant, do you really think I would have done this if it was all true?" concluded the incumbent president and candidate of the UMP. The information website Mediapart published in March a note suggesting that the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has funded a 50 million euros the 2007 campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy. The President had called the accusations "ridiculous".

When moving to Tripoli in July 2007 Nicolas Sarkozy, France and Libya signed a memorandum of agreement on civil nuclear aim of which was, according to the secretary general of the Elysee Claude Gueant of the time, "to provide to Libya a nuclear reactor that allows the provision of drinking water "in seawater déssalinisant This agreement was widely criticized, especially from France's partners such as Germany, and left in environmentalists who saw a proliferation risk. Some had even suspected this Agreement to be consideration for the release of Bulgarian nurses held in Libya, which the Elysée has always denied.

The Paris Stock Exchange closed sharply lower Friday amid concerns persist about the situation in Spain and Italy, and while the slowdown in Chinese growth is stronger than expected. The CAC 40 gave 2.47%, passing under the 3200 points to 3189.09 points, in a trade volume of 3.697 billion euros.

On other European markets, Frankfurt fell 2.36% and 1.03% of London. The Eurostoxx 50 index lost 2.58% on its side. "We broke a very important technical level, that of 3200 points, this does not bode well. We will start next week in very bad disposition, "warned Frederic Rozier, manager of equities at Messchaert Private Banking Growth Slows

.

The Chinese trend has been sealed, early interactions, confirmed by the slowing of Chinese growth, which reached its lowest level in almost three years (+8.1% yoy in the first quarter). "Investors not expect a downturn as fast. It should be remembered that any slowdown in China has a strong impact on the global economy, "said Mr. Rozier. However, for Renaud Murail at Barclays Bourse," it is almost certain that stakeholders would not reacted so negatively to this statistic a few weeks ago. Currently, less bad news is amplified. "  

The climate has been sealed by the blood of net borrowing rate of Italy and Spain in the bond market, yields on 10 year Spanish flirting again with 6%. Rome suffered a further decline in industrial production in February, while economists were betting on a rise, while the debt of Spanish banks to the ECB in March smashed the record already history for the previous month. "This suggests two disturbing elements: access not only of the Spanish market remains difficult, but they still have a strong need for short-term liquidity," said Alexandre Baradez at Saxo Bank.

The bank attacked very

The banking sector in the fourth largest economy in the euro area of ​​particular concern for investors because it is very exposed to the real estate market in the doldrums in the country. In this context, anxiety, low morale of U.S. households has compounded the disappointment of stakeholders.

As for values, the banking sector has been particularly attacked, Societe Generale yielding 5.79% to 17.80 euros, BNP Paribas 5.22% to 30.40 euros and Credit Agricole 5.08% to 3.91 euros. More cyclical stocks have suffered heavily from the slowdown in China, the image of Peugeot (-5.15% to 9.84 euros), Lafarge (-4.94% to 30.88 euros) or Vinci (-4 , 21% to 34.83 euros). L'Oreal was the only value of the CAC 40 close to achieving in the green (1.15% to 92.14 euros) after the beginning of 2012 found "promising" with sales up sharply in the first quarter.

Capgemini (-5.12% to 29.92 euros) suffered from lower sales forecasts for 2012-2013 the number two Indian IT Infosys Technologies. Atos took to 2.31% to 44.37 euros, while a note from Morgan Stanley suggests the establishment of "strategic options" for the group if the title is still low. Stallergenes has granted 3.34% to 42.66 euros after confirming its annual growth target following an increase of 7% of its turnover for the first quarter. Finally, Gold by Gold unscrewed from 6.01% to 6.72 euros in its first day of trading on Euronext Paris.

The net sales for the first quarter, which excludes fees paid to partner sites, totaled $ 8.14 billion.

The total turnover of the quarter is 10.65 billion.

Years of justice for nothing? Maybe so. More than 12 years after the fact, the General Counsel of the Supreme Court seeking annulment of the sentence in Total Erika shipwreck flag. Moreover, he believes that we should not refer the case on appeal. His analysis? French justice is not responsible for the sinking of a ship flying the Maltese flag outside French territorial waters. The notice of Gossement Arnaud, a lawyer specializing in environmental law.

What do you think the requisitions of the General Counsel?

Master Gossement Arnaud: This is surprising. Both courts and not the least, the First District Court of Paris (TGI) in 2008 and the Court of Appeal of Paris ruled in 2010 in the same direction. They have ruled on the application of French law and compensation for environmental damage. It was a first. Second thing, until 2008, an investigation has led to a removal order. In short, much work has been done around this case. It is therefore a surprise to make possible today a possible departure from precedent. And surprise is shared by all lawyers.

Can you reconstruct his reasoning?

We must above all be cautious. And for good reason, we do not know all of the conclusions of Advocate General, only a few arguments. According to the senior judge of the Supreme Court, there would be an issue of pure law, ie the Court of Appeal would not have applied the correct legal text. She should have, according to the magistrate, apply international law because of the location of the Erika. It was not located in French territorial waters. Then, the Advocate General points to the notion of environmental damage. In 2008 the Paris Court of First Instance is to be used with great clarity to the concept of "damages for injury to the environment." But the judge would question the possibility of convicting a person on grounds of environmental damage. Total for lawyers, this recent concept does not exist in positive law, in the texts of laws. Whether the General Counsel relies on this ground for reconsideration of the ecological damage, I do not know.

One thing is certain, the magistrate did not say that Total was irresponsible, but there is a problem of law. Over the total condemnation of the judge shows the inadequacy of the legal framework that applies to legal activities at sea It is a law vague and complex, composed of a mosaic of texts. Historically, there has been interest in the land. We just forgot that human activities would also develop at sea, whether oil activities or renewable energy production. This is since the 70s, including the trial of Montedison (the Italian company had dumped thousands of tons of toxic waste in a marine trench off Cape Corse, in Italian waters), we took awareness of the fragility of the sea We discover that the sea is not a trash can and must be protected. Erika was a turning point. There was a strong awareness.

Requisitions prosecutors are they followed by the Supreme Court?

This is what is said in general. But this is a complex matter for which miles are possible options. The Supreme Court can completely cancel the decision of the Court of Appeal, as it can do so partially. On the issue of compensation paid by Total at the time of use, the oil group said he would not call into question the compensation paid, but one can imagine the reverse. If unfortunately, the Supreme Court completely cancels the decision of the Court of Appeal, the procedure can start again. It would be a disaster not only for the plaintiffs, but also for the ecology. And for good reason, return on an affair that has lasted for 1999 is a bad signal to polluters. This is a step backwards. This is very disturbing. They may think that it does not matter because any way the court proceedings will take years to achieve. It is a discouraging message for associations and however encouraging for polluters. It should be certainty in the application of sanctions.

Widely criticized for its many investments in France, Qatar has decided to postpone until after the elections in France to launch a controversial investment fund of 50 million euros to help commuters, it was elected officials learned of Diversity, confirming a report in figaro.fr.

The National Association of Elected Local Diversity (Aneld), who obtained this commitment after a mission to Qatar where she was received by the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, "hoped that this initiative is not exploited by political parties, "said its president Kamal Hamza, alderman (UMP) in Courneuve (Seine-Saint-Denis). "We want this to happen in the healing and not in controversy," he told AFP while the Qatari initiative has been criticized, including by Marine Le Pen.

"There is a very strong influence of foreign countries wishing development of Muslim fundamentalism and I wonder very strongly the bonds of friendship between Nicolas Sarkozy (French President) and the Emir of Qatar that has been allowed to invest 50 million euros in the French suburbs, "said the president of the National Front. Saturday, a few hundred young activists identity of "Apache Project" showed Place de l'Opera in Paris against "the acquisition of France by Qatar." For its part, the interior minister, Claude Gueant, found the initative as "salutary effort since there is no particular requirement of any kind".  

The emirate's ambassador in Paris, Mohamed Al-Kuwari Jahan, announced in December the fund of 50 million euros to finance economic projects by residents of the suburbs of France, explaining that s 'was not "charity" but of establishing partnerships in projects "serious" and "solid". A commission of experts should be established to evaluate the projects.

More generally, the tiny emirate is a privileged economic and financial partner of France. He just bought 1% of LVMH, and 2% of Total has increased to 12.8% its stake in Lagardere.

Over the whole of 2011, the bank shows a loss of 9.2 billion euros, a result of massive writedowns in the third quarter, primarily goodwill.

Italy's largest bank by assets had already passed the annual dividend.

Earnings in the fourth quarter, beating consensus giving 30 million, compares with a profit of 321 million euros a year earlier. 

The ratio of Tier 1 capital was hard to 9.97% on a proforma basis, taking into account a difficult capital increase of EUR 7.5 billion performed in January 2012.

While President Barack Obama put on a new release of emergency stocks of the country to counter soaring fuel prices, experts note that the landscape changes logistical striking U.S. oil could complicate his plans.

Certainly, the fact tap into the four giant salt caverns on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico – which contain 700 million barrels of crude oil owned by the U.S. federal government – would almost certainly lower the world oil prices, easing to pump users and providing a boost to Barack Obama before the November election. 

Thursday, the price of crude has lost up to three dollars after information from Reuters that Britain was considering with the U.S. release of strategic oil reserves cal in the course of the year.

British officials have said that the timing and volumes contemplated are detailed by the summer, when oil prices often reach a peak.

But the logistics of such a release of crude oil to refiners volunteers is more complicated than ever: if there is little doubt that oil reserves are provided in emergency Ultimately buyers, it may reach them more slowly than does the government hope. 

The inversion of a key pipeline linking Texas to Oklahoma will reduce the capacity of the main cavern release of oil reserves, and John is Shages, responsible ; emergency stocks under the Bush and Clinton administrations.

SYSTEM OF ANOTHER TIME

The development of shale oil and crude oil imports from Canada's oil sands has transformed the landscape of Energy. The industry is now trying to move an overflow of oil from the center of the country to the Gulf of Mexico, reversing the logic that underpinned the organization of national strategic reserves .

Emergency reserves of the United States, created by Congress after the oil crisis in mid 1970, was in fact designed primarily to carry oil pipeline linking the Gulf to refineries in the region and other purchasers located further north.

"The fact that the pipelines go (now) to the south, not north is a major change," said Edward Morse, responsible for research on raw materials for Citigroup and formerly an expert e nergétique within the U.S. State Department. 

According to the Department of Energy, the U.S. strategic reserves may distribute the oil to 49 refineries with a capacity of more than five million barrels per day (bpd) – about one third of the total capacity of the country.

They are designed to release the oil within two weeks after order and to support a rate of one million bpd for a year and a half, helping to meet 5% of U.S. demand.

It can now free up oil at a maximum rate of 4.25 million bpd, due to damage to one of the storage tanks, said an official of the dice Department of Energy.

But oil industry analysts are skeptical. 

Edward Morse deems it unrealistic pace and stresses that have limited logistical problems last summer the flexibility of the government's release of 30 million bpd – the largest in history United States – in response to disturbances affecting the supply of Libyan oil.

The oil from strategic reserves while in competition with the already crude transported by pipelines or tankers, on waterways often overloaded, the logistical capabilities of the country could be insufficient to rapidly absorb millions of additional barrels.

The Energy Department had released an average 743,000 bpd in August.