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Three months after agreeing on the outlines of a major reform of EU economic governance, finance ministers from twenty-seven had to lean on Monday include the issue of more effective sanctions for breach of the Stability Pact and growth.

On the menu for the meeting re-entry working group chaired by Herman Van Rompuy: study of the arsenal of available sanctions, reflecting on how they should be fired and "half the European budget", that is to say, presentation by Member States to the European Commission of their proposed budget before adoption by national parliaments.

"We must ensure that those sanctions can be more automatic, they can be accelerated in order to play a role in the preventive (Stability Pact)," said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker in his arrival in Brussels.

Mentioned before the summer break, any suspension of voting rights in the Ecofin Council or a freeze on payment of structural funds and agricultural subsidies, however, seems more relevant.

Many countries consider that these measures would be very difficult to implement and might ultimately penalize people more than their governments.

According to one European diplomat, the exercise of that Monday is similar to "duties of re-entry.

"The idea is to list what is already approved – to 27 economic government, half the European budget – and to go a little further into the technical discussion on sanctions before the October European Council where these options be endorsed by EU leaders, "he said personal loans.

MECHANISM ANTI-DEPRESSION

The discussion about creating a permanent mechanism for crisis management should be postponed for a later date due to technical questions posed by the device, but also differences of view on the shape and scope of Twenty Member States between -September

"Mechanism (crisis management) should be discussed in the next few weeks and it might be wiser to defer this matter to a later date (…) This requires, as perceived by some, a change treaty. I do not think we are prepared to amend the treaty, "said Jean-Claude Juncker.

The European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Olli Rehn echoed the statements of the President of the Eurogroup.He believes that sanctions pact to become "quasi-automatic" and that time does not press for an agreement on anti-crisis ongoing.

"It's probably better to postpone the debate on the aid mechanism (…) We have a credible mechanism that works and we can give time for reflection," he said.

The European Union agreed in early May on a plan to support the euro 750 billion, consisting of a community fund of 60 billion euros and loan guarantees of 440 billion euros supplemented by a budget of 250 billion euros from the International Monetary Fund.

This plan is intended to assist for a period of three years from any country of the European currency area that would have the need and request it.

It will complement existing bilateral loans to Greece for a total of 110 billion euros.

The European Commission gave its approval Friday to fund financial stability of 10 billion euros to recapitalize banks in difficulty as Greek by the credit crisis, considering that this mechanism is compatible with European Union rules in respect of aid.

This fund is part of a device based emergency loans to three years made in May by the euro area and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stem the contagion of the Greek debt to other countries.

"I am satisfied that the conditions under which Greece can use the funds comply with rules on support schemes for the financial sector during the crisis," he said in a statement Joaquin Almunia, European Commissioner for Competition.

The EU executive announced that the fund could be used until June 30, 2017.

Carrefour said Tuesday net income of 82 million euros in the first half against a loss a year earlier, and confirmed its guidance for full year 2010 by including a demand that remains strong in emerging countries .

The number two worldwide in distribution, after Wal-Mart, said in a statement it is an operating profit around 3.1 billion euros, as already stated mid-July.

The first six months of year, operating profit has already reached nearly 1.1 billion euros.

"We're quite pleased with the sales in July, a little disappointed by sales cons of August," said Pierre Bouchut, Carrefour's chief financial officer, during a conference call."The trend in emerging markets remains strong."

In the second quarter, Carrefour has benefited from the dynamism of emerging economies to reach a turnover exceeding expectations, nearly 25 billion euros, up 6.3%, offsetting a contraction in sales in Europe, mainly in France, Belgium, Spain and Italy, as well as in other countries of southern Europe such as Greece or Romania.

The group, which seeks to save 4.5 billion euros over three years to improve its margins, said he also cut costs by 236 million euros in the first half of the year, a target of 500 million for all 2010.

Asked about the Asian assets of the group, Pierre Bouchut has refused to comment on reports about a possible sale of assets Malaysian, Thai and Singaporean group.

"We do not comment on such rumors," said the CFO."Our goal is to build on certain markets and over time, without doubt, take the decision to abandon certain other markets."

"At what point will we take this decision? Will we really?" Everything remains open, "he added.

According to several sources, Carrefour tries to sell its assets in Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore to focus its efforts on China and India.

This could generate some 800 million euros in the French distributor.

PTT, Thailand first group in the energy sector, has already expressed interest in taking over the assets in Thailand.

At the Paris Bourse, the Crossroad action won 6.42% but underperformed the CAC 40 rose 19.43%.

The stock closed Monday at 36.11 euros, up from just over 1%.

The Paris Bourse falling off again Friday at the opening in the wake of American and Asian seats in anticipation of several economic indicators, the estimate of U.S. GDP in the second quarter, and the speech by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Around 9:15 am, the CAC 40 index yields 0.14% to 3470.19 points.

Carrefour leads the ACC increases and takes 1.04%, followed by Lagardère earning 0.68% Thursday after noting its 2010 objectives.

EADS shows the largest decline and fell by 3.06%.The daily Les Echos reported on Friday that its subsidiary Airbus has revised downwards its forecast production rate of the A350.

Outside ACC wins Scor 2.86% after an increase of recommendation from JP Morgan to overweight cons neutral.

London and Frankfurt are treading water, instead yielding UK 0.04% while the German rises of 0.01%. As for the European indices, the EuroStoxx 50 fell by 0.2% and the Eurofirst 300 lost 0.18%.

The Euro remains above 1.27 dollars after its rebound from yesterday, and traded around 1.2707 against the dollar.

U.S. light crude oil retreated slightly and treated around 73.10 dollars a barrel.

Heineken, the world's third largest brewer, on Wednesday posted a net half-year exceeded expectations, reducing costs which enabled it to compensate for declining beer sales.

The Dutch group, whose main brands are Heineken and Amstel, has made the first six months of the year net profit up 17% on a comparable basis and before special items to 621 million euros.

Twelve analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast an average result of 595 million.

The group said growth forecasts of at least 10% of its net earnings over the whole year, indicating that volume trends in Latin America, Africa and Asia, as well as price increases , continue to have an impact on profitability.

The results presented Wednesday to two months include the contribution of the activities of FEMSA Mexican beer, bought by Heineken in order to increase its presence in emerging markets.

Last year, the Dutch made a little more than half its sales in Western Europe.

American International Group (AIG) reported a quarterly loss as its results were recipients a year earlier, due to the recognition of a significant impairment charge.

The American group, owned about 80% by the state, issued under a second quarter net loss of $ 2.7 billion (2.05 billion euros), or $ 3.96 per share, against a profit of $ 1.8 billion ($ 2.3 per share) over the corresponding period last year.

The deficit is mainly due to the insurer an impairment charge of $ 3.3 billion.

In data adjusted, AIG reports a profit of 1.3 billion dollars (1.99 dollars per share), against 1.1 billion dollar ($ 1.71 per share) a year earlier.

In pre-market, the title earned 5.3%, after closing at 39.90 dollars Thursday in New York.

Since the early action took 33% against 7% growth posted by the S & P's insurance industry.

The Spanish bank Santander has agreed to buy 318 branches from RBS in the UK for about 1.65 billion pounds (1.98 billion euros).

The Spanish giant has also announced it would inject 4.46 billion pounds of capital into its UK business to "support the organic growth and inorganic and finance the reorganization of group companies in the United Kingdom."

Santander is considering an IPO for a portion of its UK business, told Reuters sources familiar with the matter.The product of such an operation would allow it to recover some of his investment.

Santander was in exclusive talks with RBS having long been considered the frontrunner to buy these agencies, which should enable it to develop its activities towards small and medium enterprises.

Santander said the recovery of this agreement could be adjusted to the date of its completion, expected in December 2011.

The price represents a premium of 350 million pounds compared to the net assets, valued at 1.3 billion pounds in late 2009.

"Santander buys assets at very reasonable prices in the countries it already knows where it already has a presence, technological infrastructure, which makes easier the realization of synergies and it brings out a higher return on equity , "said Arturo de Frias, an analyst at Evolution Securities.

The Spanish group made nearly 17% of its profits in Britain, against 22% on the Spanish market of retail banking.

Several groups have urged the French government this week to catch up on overdue payments estimated at two billion euros due to a failure of a computer system.

On Friday, the giant European aerospace and defense group EADS, which published its interim results, has come to be inscribed on a list of providers dissatisfied with the state which already Safran, Thales and Dassault Aviation.

According to several speakers, these delays are attributed to the introduction of payment system inter Chorus, which records problems since late 2009.

On 12 May, the French Ministry of Defence said he was determined to catch up on by the end of the summer.To date, some 3.8 billion euros of commitments had been paid since January 1, or 55% of the amount paid to manufacturers last year at the same time.

"For the defense sector as a whole, delays (current) is estimated at around two billion euros," said Friday a spokesman for the grouping of French aerospace industries (GIFAS).

A cell involving two other organizations have asked the government to act, "he added.

Dassault Aviation said on Thursday waiting for payments equivalent to 200 million euros.For Safran, the addition amounts to some 270 million.

"We are also concerned," said Friday Hans Peter Ring, chief financial officer of EADS, in conjunction with the presentation of interim financial statements of the company, without giving further details.

A spokesman of the Directorate General for Armaments (DGA) stressed that the system delay payments Chorus affected several departments.

According to the Ministry of Budget, the Chorus system was designed by the German specialist software and SAP software.

An SAP spokesman declined to comment Friday and said that this case should be reviewed by the French government.

Nokia reported a sharp drop in earnings in the second quarter, increasing a little more pressure on his ailing CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.

The Finnish group, which manufactures mobile phones sold in three in the world, proceeded to the quarter two profit warnings and a reshuffle of his leadership when he barely keep pace with Apple in the smartphone.

We learned this week that Nokia sought a replacement for Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who has spent more than half his life in the company.It could even be removed from duty as this month, The Wall Street Journal.

A Nokia spokesman declined to say after the publication of results if the Director-General retained the support of the board of directors.

Aged 57, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who is married to a longtime advocate of Finnish group, has called for an end to the rumors about his departure.

"There have been many rumors about my position on myself, in recent weeks and it is not good for Nokia and should be completed one way or another," he said on TV channel CNBC.

At 13:15 GMT, Nokia shares gained 3.2% to 7.215 euros while the Stoxx 600 index of European technology stocks took 1.5%.

"The issue of change management is more important for the course of action that results in time," said Thomas Langer, an analyst at WestLB.

Competition intensifies

Earnings per share excluding exceptional items fell 27% as expected to fall to 0.11 euros per share.

Nokia had warned June 16 that sales and profits of its mobile division would be lower than what was previously anticipated, the group has been forced to sharply reduce its prices to meet competition from the iPhone Apple and phones using Google's operating system.

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who is known as "OPK" within the group, said that Nokia was counting on the N8, its first phone using the new Symbian software, which should give users a superior experience for all other smartphones until been manufactured by the company.

"OPK said that the N8 will bring the best user experience ever experienced with Symbian.This is good but what about this experience unmatched by the competition? That's what matters and we do not think it will be enough, "said Carolina Milanesi, analyst at Gartner.

Nokia said its operating margin on its mobile phone division fell to 9.5% in the second quarter and warned that this trend may continue in the third quarter.

In this case, the group expects a non-IFRS operating margin of its mobile division and service of between 7% and 10% the third quarter of 2010.Nokia also expects that its market share by volume remained stable in 2010 compared to last year.

"What is slightly worrying is the margin guidance for Q3 (…) Now, everything depends of the fourth quarter. Competition is intensifying," said Kulbinder Garcha from Credit Suisse.

The N8, which should be commercialized at the end of the current quarter, will compete with Apple's latest iPhone and google-phones "Samsung and Sony Ericsson in the fourth quarter, which is strategically with the Christmas holidays.

Nokia shares tumbled about 20% since the beginning of the year, sharply underperforming the index of technology stocks which gained 7%.

L'Oreal reported a slowdown in organic growth in the second quarter compared to the first, despite a very strong sales growth in emerging countries.

The global cosmetics giant has seen its sales climb 12.4% to EUR 4.945 million, slightly above the consensus of analysts polled by Reuters writing (Euros 4,897,000) which has benefited from the positive effects the decline of the euro.

Its organic growth has in turn emerged at 5.2% against 5.6% forecast by analysts, on average, marking a slowdown from 7.4% in the first quarter had benefited from more favorable basis for comparison (- 4.3% first quarter 2009 and -2.1% in the second).

Citing "important breakthrough" in the new markets, including China, Brazil, Russia, India and Indonesia, the group said in a statement to "tackle the second half with confidence."

While sales in Western Europe have increased modestly (+1.1% on a comparable basis), they increased by 4.2% in North America and, especially, have jumped from 11.1% in emerging countries, with increases of 11% in Asia and 18.4% in Latin America.

Sales of luxury products (Lancome, Armani, Helena Rubenstein and Yves Saint Laurent Beauty) have signed the largest increase (+7.6%) of the four major divisions.

These consumer products (L'Oreal Paris, Garnier) rose 4.1%, those of professional products for hairdressers took 4.7% and the products sold in drugstore rose 6.7% .

Against the trend, The Body Shop chain has seen sales stagnate (-0.1%).

The L'Oréal closed Monday down 0.86% to 82.09 euros on the Paris Stock Exchange for a market capitalization of 49.2 billion euros. The sign value up 5.2% since January, while the CAC down 9.37% over the period and the diverse European index of consumer goods ahead of 12.05%.