Take a break!

This week you have to do it without our vision of the Europian economy, on Monday 5 November 2007 we will be back!

Microsoft caves in to European commission

Microsoft goes agreed with a fine off 497 million euro after 3 year.

Microsoft received the fine after the European commission had discovered that Microsoft accepted swingeing price cuts for interoperability information that would enable rival servers to work smoothly with its Windows operating system.

In the past three years Microsoft received a total of 777.5 million euro plus interest of fines.

Microsoft now hopes that Ms Kroes will not levy further fines for its failure to comply with the 2004 ruling from December 2005 until today. Last week it said in an SEC filing in New York that it was potentially liable to penalties of $1.6bn up to the end of June alone.

Neelie Kroes, EU competition commissioner, said that she hopes that the nine year during battle against the European commission and Microsoft can become to an end and that they can go on in an absolutely close and constructive way.

Agreements that Microsoft strikes with rival developers will be enforceable in London's high court, seen as the premier European court for handling high-profile IPR and international contract cases.

The commission, meanwhile, extended its deadline for its inquiry into Google's $1.5bn purchase of internet advertising broker DoubleClick.

Source

(Tom Van thienen)

Is the production of biofuel a crime against humanity?

Jean Ziegler, an independant expert of the United Nations says that the production of biofuel is a crime against humanity. He says that the transmutation aliment growth has as effect that their is famine of food, wich raise the price and that has as effect that millions of poor people can't afford it anymore.

Ziegler wants a five year lasting mortuary of the production of biofuel to abduce a disaster foor poor people. He says that the scientific research makes progression, and that infive years it will be possible to make biofuel with agricultural garbage.

The use of biofuel is seen as a step to decrease the CO2-emmission. The US and Brazil have made a pact in march 2007 to raise the production of Ethanol. That would be good for the employment and to decrease the antics of the oilmarket.
That pact has as effect that the price of wheat has doubled, and the price of maize also has been raised.

I think that if it is true that in five years it will be possible that there can be made biofuel out of agriculteral garbage, the world has to do what Ziegler propose, cause it will be better for the poor people.

Source

1 on 7 persons in Belgium is poor!

The poverty line for a person alone is a loan of less than 822 euro/month. And the poverty line for a family (2 grownups and 2 children) is a loan of less than 1762 euro/month. This is not much. According to the numbers of the FOD Economy almost 15% of the Belgium population lives under the poverty line. This is to much, especially for a country with so much wealth. It are especially women, children under the age of 16 and older persons who live under this circumstances.
The most of these persons are also not active on the labour market.
How can they survive? The most Belgians living under the poverty line spend 40% less than the others. They save al lot of money because they travel less (they do not go on vacation). Maybe the can not afford a car, so the save also money on private transportation.

Strange is, that they also save on health and food. I thought that food and health were some basic needs, but these peoples spend more on tobacco.
This is a strange phenomenon. More than half of the persons who live under the poverty line lives in a rent-house. Their house is in most of the cases too small.

Poverty is phenomenon that is passed on from generation to generation.
My opinion: I had no idea that so many Belgians under the poverty line live. Because we have a good social system and the OCMW’s. But apparently there are still persons who need help.

Source
(Bram)

A quarter less CO2!

Like we all know, we must all try to reduce the CO2-emission , and not only we, but much more important is that all the big companies would do something about that!

Inbev, a brew-company, has succeeded to decrease the energy use in the company and also to reduce CO2-emission since 2003 with more than one quarter.
This all mean that the InBev-group stands on the top of companies and their emission.

- They use al not of innovating installations such as:
- The new water purification station
- The renewing of the steam turbine for the production of own electricity
- The energy usage decreased by regular audits and saving programmes
- There is stoked with ground energy
- The also bought a machine to suck the substance from the malt flour-milling

All this things are due the reason for the fall of co2-emission.
But that’s not all, there are a lot of other measures such as:

Detritus recycle:
InBev succeed to recycle 99 per cent of its cousin products. The brewery makes good agreements with agriculture and animal feeding world for the sale of trot, leaven and finally the silt from the water purification station.

Less water:
The water usage has decreased the last 3 years with 17 per cent by an investment in a cleaning system and the reuse of water.

Criteria Since 2005 is that InBev its breweries have applied a management system that an incorporated treatment includes of the requirements on operational, financial, quality, security, health and environment.

I think this is a very good start to reduce the CO2-emission and the Inbev-company can be a good criterion for all other companies!
Source
(Jonas)

S&N plotting Russia sale to derail bid

Scottish & Newcastle, Britain’s biggest brewer is planning to thwart Dutch and Danish rivals by refusing a takeover bid from £7,5 billon off Hartwall. Hartwall is the Finnish holding company behind its most valuable asset.

Heineken and Carlsberg who makes the following beers: Foster’s, John Smith’s and Kronenbourg, surprised last week S&N when they announced that they would takeover S&N and split the British brewer between them.

S&N’s board want to defeat the plan by selling 50% of the shares from BBH, its Russian beer business. With the selling of those shares S&N will receive £2,5 billion .

The other 50% shares of BBH are in hands of Carlsberg and they are keen to buy the other half. There will be a complex arrangement with Carlsberg.

According to the analysts a way to unlock the value in BBH is the key to S&N’s survival.

There are also other brewers who are interested such as Anheuser Busch, SAB Miller, the Spanish drinks giant Mahou San Miguel, which has a distribution deal with S&N in Brittain.

However, nobody will make a move until the Carlsberg-led bid is tabled. This is expected within 10 days.

Analysts put the value of BBH at £4.8 billion.

S&N would receive above 800 pound per share for BBH to have any chance of success.

Source

(Tom Van thienen)

The biggest airplane of the World, the A380

Airbus, the European airplane constructor has delivered the biggest airplane of the history. On Monday the 15th of October they finished the first plane. It is Singapore Airlines that receives the worlds first A380, but this with 18 months delay.

This makes an end to all the disappointment of the delay. But it comes in a period where the mother company EADS is suspected of fraud. The delay did also decrease the rate of the shares.

The first commercial flight is not for this week, it will be on the 25th of October, with destination Sydney in Australia. But people who want to see the airplane have tomorrow the chance. Then leaves the A380 France with destination Singapore.

But it wasn’t al good, the delay came because of technologic problems.
The target of Airbus is to take over the first place of Boeing. The A380 is the rival of the Boeing 747.
The Boeing 747 was long the only plane that could transport 450 passengers. But now the A380 of Airbus can transport standard 525 passengers.

At the moment Airbus has 189 sales agreements, especially from Asia and Europe. But cause of the delay, Airbus lost millions of dollars. So in stead of 270, they have to sell 420 planes.

My opinion about this: This is good for the economy of Europe. Now Airbus can compete again with Boeing. But there was also bad news, the delay cost Airbus a lot of money. So it will be difficult to sell 420 types of A380.

Source

(Bram)

One corporate road Vignette in the BeNeLux?

The Dutch government is patron for a corporate road vignette in the whole BeNeLux. Ger Koopmans, a member of parliament, thinks that Camiel Eurlings, the minister of traffic in the Netherlands, must start a deliberation with his colleagues from Belgium and Luxemburg. The Flemish government had that idea some time ago, but let it go by the objection from the Dutch government.

Ger Koopmans thinks that it will be better for the countries that they deliberate about one road vignette, he thinks that would be better for the economic competition with other countries. He thinks that it would be bad for the economic position, when we would have an overlap of payment systems.

But the Flemish Government have already the idea of a road vignette as in Germany, which can be a problem in the negotiations about the corporate road vignette.

Another problem can be that in Belgium, they want a vignette for motor-trucks only, while in The Netherlands, they want a vignette for all motor vehicles.

This shows that there is still a lot of work before there will be a corporate road vignette, if there will be one ever. The idea is already there, now they have to start the negotations.

I think that it is a good idea for a corporate road vignette: it would be much easier for the inhabitants of the Benelux and the foreign people would have to pay for the use of our roads, like we already have to do in some countries,like par example France.

Source

The European markets score!

News from Belgium:
The Bel 20 wins 0.4 per cent on 4,472.13 points! 13 shares go higher and only 6 shares go lower. The largest profit in terms of percentage is for Agfa-Gevaert.
The share has had it bad since the end of July, but now it seems to pick up again. Agfa-Gevaert increase 3 per cent up to 13.95 euro.

The oil prices:
The price for a barrel harsh Brent-oil falls for the third day and stands now on 76.11 dollar.

The euro:
A euro is now 1.4035 dollar worth.

The Banks:
The financials Dexia and Fortis make the figures Brussels really beautiful.
Dexia increase 1 per cent up to 23 euro and Fortis increase 0.4 per cent up to 22.60 euro.

Fortis has now also confessed that the Fortis-consortium has 86 percent of ABN AMRO in hands. The shareholders of the Dutch bank have massively discussed the take-over bid of the three banks. If everything goes well Fortis can pick up more than 13 billion euro at its own shareholders.
KBC, the third financial heavyweight in Brussels, note 0.2 per cent higher on 99.68 euro.
Bank Degroof have raised up their aim-rate from 70 to 76 euro.

The Aviation:
Alitalia has raised up 3 per cent, up to 0.84 euro.
The Italian airline company will resume adoption negotiations with air France-KLM, Lufthansa, TPG and three other parties.

And this are only some examples of all the things that happened last time on the European markets, and I think we can conclude that the EU is doing very well!

(all these figures could be changes when you will read this post, that how the rates go)

Source
(Jonas)

Turkey fears send oil to record high

The crude oil prices are peaking after concerns that Turkey may soon launch an invasion against northern Iraq in an attempt to hit Turkish militants it accuses of attacking Turkish targets.

Such an attack could destabilize the Kurdistan region, the only relatively peaceful area in Iraq.

Rapidly declining oil inventories in developed countries ahead of the northern hemisphere winter also helped push the price higher.

The previous record for a barrel oil was $83.90 and yesterday the price peaked to $84.05 a barrel. It closed at $83.71 a barrel, up 63 cents on the day.

Iraq pumped about 2.18m barrels a day of crude oil in September, up 190,000 b/d from August.

Turkey is a key route for a crude oil pipeline from the Caspian sea that is forecast to carry about 500,000 b/d of oil by the end of 2007.

The watchdog has asked the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) to boost its supplies to build up inventories. Crude oil and products inventories usually increase in the third quarter, ahead of the winter, but so far they have fallen by 360,000 barrels a day.

Source

(Tom Van thienen)