Business View

The European Commission today warned that the Argentine government expropriation of 51% of YPF’s capital, controlled by the Spanish firm Repsol would send a “very negative” to investors and could seriously damage the business climate in the country.

“A expropriation by the Argentine government would send a very negative signal to investors, national and international, and could seriously damage the business climate in Argentina,” said EU trade spokesman, John Clancy.

Clancy said the European Commission’s desire that the differences between the Argentine government and Repsol YPF can be smoothed through a common solution that satisfies both parties.

The EU executive argues in this regard to find a “mutually agreed solution that will not harm the business climate and the relations between the EU and Argentina.”

Last week, the EC President, Jose Manuel Durao Barroso sent a message to the office of Cristina Fernandez through the Commission delegation in Buenos Aires in which he showed his concern and called for respect for the country’s commitments with foreign investment.

Earlier, the EC had made public that he was “on the side of Spain” in this dispute with Argentina, while acknowledging that currently has no legal mechanisms to pressure the Latin American country to meet its commitments on investment companies from EU countries.

Although the Treaty of Lisbon (2009) the EC acquired skills on community investments in third countries, there is still no legal instruments, so that the legal framework that applies in this case is the treaty of bilateral investment protection ( BIT) between Spain and Argentina.

The framework agreement on trade and economic cooperation in 1991 between the European Economic Community and Argentina allows for cooperation and joint actions, but it gives the EU the possibility to take action against the South American country on issues related to trade or investment.

In parallel, EU sources stated that the World Trade Organization (WTO) “does not cover issues of protection of investment and there are no commitments at the multilateral agency with Argentina, so that the EU” has no chance to react “not on that base.

The next 19 and April 20 is scheduled to meet the EU-Argentina joint committee in Buenos Aires.

Before the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty, the EC and successfully exerted diplomatic pressure on Argentina to dismiss its intention to adopt a law on public services that many Member States considered detrimental to their investments in the country.

The European Commission (EC) and the UN signed an agreement to promote gender equality throughout the world as a basis for joint strategies to combat violence against women and promoting women in senior positions.

The agreement was signed today in Brussels by the European diplomat and Vice President of the EC, Catherine Ashton, European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs, and Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet.

The initiative “reaffirms the partnership between the two organizations to support gender equality,” and will serve in particular to share information and make joint analyzes in order to “effectively advance the rights of women,” the EC said in a statement.

The cooperation will focus on promoting the representation of women among senior business, political and judicial, as well as “improving women’s access to employment and social opportunities.”

Provision is also made joint efforts to combat domestic violence and provide assistance to victims, said the EU executive.

The EU high representative said that discrimination against women “is the most persistent form of inequality in the world”, and in particular stressed the need for increased participation of women in positions of responsibility and to fight impunity for sex offenders.

The European Commissioner for Development, meanwhile, warned that the human and political development “is not possible without a strong respect for the rights of women.”

Finally, Bachelet stressed the importance of the agreement signed today and said that the full participation of women “strengthen democracy, peace and sustainable development” throughout the world.

The main British banks today gave more than 2,000 million pounds (2,400 million) of their combined value in the London Stock Exchange because of fears about the financial situation in Spain, where the debt premium has exceeded 6 percent.

The part-nationalized Lloyds Banking Group fell as much as 5 percent on the London Stock while Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), also owned most of the British state, fell nearly 4 percent.

The private Barclays and HSBC also stood in negative territory for the nervousness of investors about the possibility that the interest payable by Spain for the money received debt auctions reach unsustainable levels.

“Spain is in the spotlight of global markets, as the cost of their loans is close to what many consider unsustainable levels,” said the stockbroker Rupert Osbourne.

“If we learned anything over the past two years on the European debt, is that these problems are not solved or quickly or painlessly, raising fears of more volatility in the markets in the coming weeks,” he added.

A part of Spain’s public deficit, investors in the UK fear that Spanish banks are not capable of dealing with defaults arising from the housing slump.

Mislav Matejka, an analyst at JP Morgan Cazenove, recalled today that the Spanish state bank deposits declined in February totaling 6,000 million euros, while maintaining a “negative trend”.

“This is particularly disturbing and indicates that Spanish banks are increasingly vulnerable,” he said.

As for sovereign debt, the spread between ten-year Spanish bond and the German with the same period currently stands around 440 basis points, while Spanish bond yields today to ten years exceeded 6.1 per percent.

What generates nervousness is that the premium may advance to the 7 percent threshold that forced Ireland, Greece and Portugal to seek a bailout to the European Union (EU).

Despite the lack of confidence of international markets, the Spanish Treasury will attempt to pick this week to 5,500 million in separate debt issues.

Spain hopes to capture morning between 2,000 and 3,000 million euros with an issue of letters to twelve and eighteen months, and Thursday, between 1,500 and 2,500 million euros in bonds maturing in 2014 and 2022.

These auctions become relevant for the significant maturities are pending Spain this year, totaling 139,000 million.

U.S. bank Citigroup announced today that it closed the first quarter with a net profit of 2.931 million dollars, 2% less than the same period of 2011.

Net income per share indicator that closely follow U.S. analysts, was placed from January to March at 0.95 dollars, five cents less than the market consensus expected.

Revenues totaled 19.406 million in that period of $ 19.726 million compared to first quarter 2001 and slightly below the 19,700 million envisaged by the experts.

Its president and CEO, Vikram Pandit, said that the organization “has worked on an improved, and have also seen the benefits of investments.”

Citi, according to Pandit, “has generated revenue growth and has made positive operations in all their portfolios. In private banking, has achieved another quarter of good growth in revenues and net income.”

However, the head of Citigroup said that “although the environment has improved in the first quarter, there are still many uncertainties and risks continue to manage carefully.”

Citigroup said in a statement that the figures released today include a negative impact of 1,300 million for adjustments to the valuation of the credit portfolio.

If you consider this impact, earnings per share would have increased by 7% to $ 1.11, while revenues had grown to 20,200 million dollars, according to the company.

By region, has reported that its net profit in North America the first quarter increased 2% to 1.539 million dollars and in Asia, 18% to 1,111 million dollars.

In Europe and the Middle East, however, the business recorded a decline of 26% to 792 million, and Latin America, fell 3% to 895 million.

The city of Toledo (central Spain) brings together 450 scientists, entrepreneurs and engineers from some thirty countries to discuss concentrating photovoltaics, one of the great promises of solar energy whose main drawback is its high cost.

The conference will develop from now until April 18, organized by the Institute of Concentration Photovoltaic Systems, a public company based in Puertollano (Ciudad Real) – and give continuity to a series of international scientific conferences that began to be held in 2002 in New Orleans (USA).

In later years took place in other cities in Australia, Spain, Germany and the U.S., the last in Las Vegas in 2011.

Toledo’s conference was presented today at a press conference by the director of R & D Isfoc, Francisca Rubio, the founder of ISE, Antonio Luque, the deputy director general of public-private partnership of the Ministry of Economy, Maria Luisa Brown, and the CEOs of Universities and Industry Board, Jose Antonio Negrin and Alfonso Vazquez.

Both Francisca Rubio and Antonio Luque explained that the main focus is on reducing the cost of producing this type of energy, which is based on the use of optical systems such as lenses or mirrors to concentrate light on solar cells, which thus are smaller but twice as efficient.

That is the challenge and believe it is impossible to reach, but more research is needed and the times are not the most favorable.

The deputy director general of the Ministry of Economy reminded that Spain is waiting for a rearrangement of the electrical system in times of cutbacks that no sector is foreign, including R & D + i.

However, Spain, stressed, is among the top five countries of the world in terms of public funding, but is still unable to drag private funding, which should be encouraged.

With the austere budget this year, said Brown, will have to be brave when betting on one technology or another.

He added that in regulating the electrical system that is pending that will unite academic interests with business and industry around the range of renewable energy in Spain is leading, in fact, has a 34% penetration of renewables in the network.

Those responsible have pointed Isfoc receiving aid from Mineco for 16 million euros, but the problem I found is that there is no fee for renewable energy primate, so His prayer is to be allowed to have demonstration plants CPV technology also primed in Spain.

Have called for subsidies to develop this industry and, by way of manufacture, is found where the real problems of cost and to engender research needed to solve them.

President of the Spanish Federation of Hotels (FEHR), Jose Maria Rubio, said today in San Sebastian that this sector, and the restoration in particular suffers from “the crisis more long, hard and intense” and through his “worst economic times in recent decades. ”

As part of this adverse situation, which is forcing hoteliers to “resize and redefine” their companies, said Rubio, develops, from today until next Wednesday, the XIV National Congress of Hospitality, which meets in the capital Gipuzkoa about 600 professionals in Spain.

Rubio has made a radiograph of the situation in his speech at the inaugural biennial symposium, whose last edition was held in 2010 in Palma de Mallorca and first place in Euskadi, the Kursaal San Sebastian as its principal presentations and workshops.

The president of the Basque Parliament, Arantza Quiroga, the Deputy Minister of Trade and Tourism Vitoria executive, Pilar Zorrilla, the president of the General Assembly of Gipuzkoa, Loitzune Pan, the Deputy for Tourism of the territory, Jon Uriguen, and the mayor of San Sebastian, Juan Karlos Izagirre, were the authorities who have participated in the opening ceremony of the congress, by the head of the Association of Hospitality Guipuzcoa, Mikel Ubarretxena, and the state federation.

The latter has stated that 2011 was “another bad year” for the catering industry, which “continues to have a nationwide continuing decline in lost sales that has lasted 46 months” with the loss of nearly 100,000 jobs since 2008 .

Jose Maria Rubio has attributed the fall to declining domestic demand – “domestic customers have decreased their vacation and the average expenditure per day,” said-, the increase in tourist offers “all inclusive” for foreigners and ” negative impact “of the implementation of the Law” smoking “.

“They close and close more stores,” warned Rubio, who said that the situation requires the reshaping and redefining the industry and their companies.

He underlined that “to survive the crisis” must manage these businesses, “business criteria” and restaurateurs assume that “the customer has changed, is more demanding, less loyal and he is willing to pay the value added to be provided the product. ”

But Rubio has released a message of hope to the sector, because, as pointed out, is “one of the most important” in economic activity in Spain and “still future,” so it has appealed to cope “with optimism. “

The PP’s general secretary, Maria Dolores de Cospedal, today called on the PSOE and its leader, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, who “preach” about consensus when it is they who have no desire for dialogue and have “broken” the agreement on stability budget by voting against this law.

“A party that is breaking agreements, then it can not go preaching the agreement and consensus,” he insisted at a news conference Cospedal, which emphasized the “clear irresponsibility” incurred by the Socialists in the Budgetary Stability Law and also criticized no intention of agreeing on other issues such as RTVE.

Cospedal stressed that both the PP and the Government believe that would be “very good” for Spain a “grand bargain” in many areas, especially economic, but a party like the PSOE, which “broke” the agreement of the constitutional reform achieved in the last legislature, “is not a party to work for the good of his country.”

In the case of renewal of the direction of RTVE has asked the Socialist Party that if you really will agree “that note”, because in these negotiations “can not be that everything is as it wants the PSOE.”

“That’s not consensus but will control the public body that is not the same,” added Cospedal.

Although not explicitly wanted to rule on the complaint that some PP autonomic presidents made on the RTVE information policy at its meeting last Saturday, the general secretary pointed out that what the government needs to do is to ensure plurality of information of the public body and avoid any partisan bias.

Party sources have said after the press conference that the PP hasten the coming days to seek consensus with the Socialists in this area, but they doubted that Rubalcaba wants to reach consensus and added that then have to make a decision because you can not delay much longer.

Cospedal regretted moreover that Rubalcaba has said today that it intends to maintain any meeting “discreet” more with the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy. “I see the willingness to compromise that has” the socialist leader, he added.

Also recalled that when Rajoy was head of the opposition “always” attended all the meetings “formal and informal” to which he summoned the then Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, “because I had a sense of responsibility and sense of State “and” nothing is what others have to break at the earliest opportunity “as a pact of stability.

The European Union has closed last year with a budget surplus of 1%, equivalent to 1,490 million euros, which will reduce future contributions from Member States to the budget of the bloc.

In total, the budget for 2011 amounted to 123,000 million euros and the surplus recorded, the lowest in recent years has implemented 99% of it.

The surplus of 1% has been produced mainly by fines in the area of competence have charged late last year (700 million) and other income in various parts of the budget (about 700 million euros).

European Commissioner for Budget, Janusz Lewandowski, recalled finally the small surplus has occurred even though the European Commission warned late last year of struggling to pay bills that arrived in December.

On the one hand it is difficult to relocate funds in the EU budget and secondly the budget process is slow and resources that you enter at the end of a fiscal year may not always be computed until the end of it.

Therefore, the Commission stresses the need for Member States and the European Parliament agreed the budget flexibility to adapt EU “closer to reality.”

“Unfortunately we have not achieved the flexibility we need to react quickly to new developments. With the current rigid rules, to reach a surplus of 1% is the best result possible,” said Lewandowski.

Deutsche Bank hopes that Spain may undertake fiscal adjustment needs without sacrificing the growth that is expected in 2013, but delayed a year until 2014, the goal of reducing the public deficit to 3 % of GDP.

In a report published today, the bank experts explain that Spain has a liquidity problem, but not solvency and believe that if it becomes necessary to a bailout of the country or Italy would suffice providing between 208,000 and 392,000 million euros countries outside the euro in the G-20.

Deutsche Bank experts believe that Spain will reduce its fiscal deficit to 6% of GDP in 2012, up from 5.3% forecast by the government, and in 2013 will drop to 4.5%, but not to the 3% calculates the Executive.

This will be achieved in 2014 when the economy will continue growing, albeit a timid 0.2% versus 0.3% in 2013 and government debt will have reached 90% of GDP.

In any case, analysts of the bank is “perfectly feasible” that Spain’s debt to stabilize at around 85% of GDP, which would carry out the necessary fiscal adjustment without sacrificing the economy to grow.

Deutsche Bank highlights some strengths of the Spanish economy as behavior “robust” in exports during the last three years, which in his opinion shows that, outside the construction sector, the “corporate Spain” is in good condition.

The German bank also forecasts for 2012 are more optimistic than the government of Mariano Rajoy, because he thinks that the Spanish economy will fall 1.2% this year compared to the fall of 1.7% which provides the Executive.

On the pessimistic side, Deutsche Bank regrets that the state budget have left “unresolved” financing of autonomy and hence the pressure of the markets last week that led to the Spanish bond differential with respect to German to previous levels Rajoy on arrival at the Moncloa.

However, pleased that the government is taking “clearly” measures to stabilize markets and Deutsche Bank still think that the challenge is liquidity and not solvency.

Providers with outstanding bills of municipalities have until Friday to confirm they want to charge by the payment plan opened by the Government, because if not it will not be reimbursed their bills.

In a statement, the Ministry of Finance reports that the confirmation can be done in person at City Hall who owes the bill until Friday 20 April, or in telematics in the Tax Agency website (www.agenciatributaria. s) until Sunday 22 April.

Providers must submit a current account number and principal amount of the discount removed, if any.

If done electronically, providers should access the website of the Tax and identified by certified mail user, such as electronic ID or those issued by the National Factory of the Mint.

Providers should enter the TIN (either natural or legal person) that appears on the invoices and identify the bank account where you want to get paid and the amount of the haircut, if any.

Also, providers can go to the local entity to communicate in writing their decision to seek the payment mechanism, to facilitate the NIF, the current account number and principal amount of the discount removed, if any.

If providers choose to track attendance, local authorities should communicate that information later by computer and electronic signature to the Tax Office.