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Annual inflation in the euro area remained at 2.7% in March, the same rate the previous month and also the same as a year earlier, according to data released today by the EU statistical office, Eurostat.

The annual price increase across the European Union reached 2.9% in March, which does not involve any change in the threshold in February, while representing a drop of two-tenths of the level of March 2011 (3.1 %).

In Spain, inflation was below the European average by recording a rate of 1.8%, one tenth less than in February and far from 3.3% a year ago.

In monthly terms, inflation in the euro area stood at 1.3% in March and the twenty-seven at 1.1%, while that of Spain was 2.2%.

The underlying inflation, regardless of energy prices and fresh foods that tend to vary more in March, remained at 1.9% in the euro area, the same level recorded in February and January.

Consumer prices rose in the last twelve months in all EU countries, but compared to February declines were recorded in fourteen Member States, increases in eight and four other inflation remained unchanged.

The lowest annual rates were in Sweden (1.1%), Greece (1.4%) and Bulgaria (1.7%), while the highest were observed in Hungary (5.5%), Estonia ( 4.7%) and Czech Republic (4.2%).

Germany and France, the two largest economies in the euro area had similar price increases and 2.6% -2.3%, respectively, but the third eurozone economy, Italy, surpassed the EU average to stand his inflation rate at 3.8%.

By components, those with higher annual rates in March were transport (4.6%), alcohol and snuff (4.4%) and housing (4%) compared to the most modest of communications ( -2.8%), leisure and culture (0.7%) and education (0.9%).

In the month of March, the price increases were bulkier clothing (16%), transport (1.3%) and household products (0.7%), while there were smaller at leisure and culture (-0.4%) and health, communications and education, which did not change.

CiU deputy spokesman in Congress, Josep Sanchez Llibre, today underlined the support of “total” in your group to the actions undertaken by the Government to the “unwarranted” intervention YPF oil company, controlled by Repsol, by the Government Argentina.

Speaking to reporters in Congress, Sanchez Llibre has held that the expropriation of 51 percent of YPF announced Monday by the president of Argentina, Cristina Fernandez, is a procedure “improper XXI century”.

CiU is why the Government side who wants to take actions to defend Spanish interests in Argentina, he added.

Along with the decisions of the Executive, the deputy spokesman of CiU has indicated that this group will also ask to be put in place the European mechanisms for all these activities together to enable a “dignified solution” to this conflict.

Josep Sanchez Llibre hopes that the Government exercise the “utmost forcefulness and rigor” in this case to defend Spanish interests.

Interests, has admitted to reporters’ questions, are for a commercial side to affect a private company, but need action “from the diplomatic perspective and from the governmental sphere, missing more.”

The passenger car registrations in Europe rose in March to 1,499,380 units, 6.6% less than 1,534,091 the same month in 2011, reported the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers (ACEA).

The first quarter closed with 3,427,677 registrations of passenger cars, compared with 3,696,919 in January-March 2011 show a decline of 7.3%.

By area, the European Union (EU) 27 members enrolled in the reference month 1,453,407 passenger cars, a decrease of 7%.

In the founding of the fifteen EU, in which markets are most in demand, accumulated 1,379,500 registrations, 7.5% less than a year ago.

In quarterly terms, the EU-27 fell 7.7%, with 3,312,657 registrations, and the EU-15, made ​​8.6%, with 3,315,351 units.

Among the major markets during the month, Germany (339,123 units) maintained the trend of growth with an increase in enrollment of 3.4%, and the UK, with the largest volume by country (372,835 units), scored a more moderate rise of 1.8%.

The other major markets moved in falls, including 26.7% noted in Italy (138,137 units), 23.2% in France (197,774 units) and 4.5% in Spain (84,427).

The same scenario occurred in the accumulated quarterly, with increases of 1.3% and 0.9% respectively in Germany and the UK, compared with falls of 21.6% in Italy, from 21% in France , and 1.9% in Spain.

Within the small and intermediate markets in the month highlighted the upward trends of 82.2% in Finland, from 29.2% in Romania and 28.5% in Estonia.

On the other side of the balance is placed Portugal and Greece, with a drop of 49.2% and 42.6% respectively.

The French president and candidate for re-election, Nicolas Sarkozy, has defended the independence of the European Central Bank (ECB) but came out for the opening of a debate to take care also to promote economic growth without amending the treaties.

“It is possible that the ECB is not involved in supporting growth as the central banks in the world,” he said in an interview with radio station “France Inter” Sarkozy, who ruled out changes in the European treaties, because it needs unanimously and take a long time.

“I support the independence of the ECB, but precisely because there have to be able to discuss independence” among its leaders and political leaders as between the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government, he argued.

In any case, distanced himself from the position of his rival, the Socialist candidate and frontrunner for the presidential runoff on 6 May, François Hollande, which seeks to renegotiate the latest European treaty to include an element for reactivation of the activity.

For Sarkozy “we must not give the impression that France gives to make efforts to reduce its deficit” because then “we have no chance,” he said in a thinly veiled criticism Hollande.

He added that the message ahead of the French and other European partners is that we must “reduce our costs, reduce our deficit (public) to pay our debt,” and so convinced that together with fiscal discipline “also need growth “.

The president said he has always defended the ECB deal of economic growth, and “is what I got” in the last treaty agreed in December and signed in early March, allowing the ECB to lend money to banks 1% of interest.

He acknowledged that “would have preferred” that the ECB lend directly to States, but added that “Europe is a compromise.”

To end their differences in public Sarkozy agreed to in November with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who would not comment on what the ECB had to do.

The deputy secretary of organization of PP, Carlos Floriano, said today that leading PSOE leaders have committed “many excesses” with his statements about the trip to Botswana and the king said “the best favor” that can make the system is “be careful”.

In an interview on ABC Radio Punto, Floriano did not want personal judgments, in his opinion, only serve to “feed those who try to use this issue to generate tension over an institution and do a disservice to democracy” .

“My greatest contribution as head of the Popular Party is the understanding that the King’s House has already positioned”, also the government and from there the monarch “can recover soon,” he pointed out.

The popular leader has referred to the words of the secretary general of the PP, María Dolores de Cospedal, who yesterday called for the accident was not used to challenge an institution like the monarchy, in order not to generate more confusion.

“We must not becoming trapped in a controversy on this issue, everyone must assume their responsibilities and the best favor you can do to our system is to be always cautious,” he insisted.

Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism, José Manuel Soria, said today that the Argentine government’s decision to expropriate 51% of YPF, Repsol subsidiary, is not serious, explained that the excuses are made for this operation are ” weak arguments “and noted that there are consequences.

Speaking to RNE, Soria emphasized that this behavior arbitrary, discriminatory and not according to law,-or Argentine or international, does not change relations with the “Argentine people,” but with its current Executive, which until recent dates of the option made its mark expropriation and then did something “not typical of a government seriously.”

He added that the first results, which are expected in coming days, will be the measures taken by the Spanish Government-wide and will be “diplomatic, commercial, industrial and energy.”

Soria believed that before this hostility, a country “can not sit with folded arms,” ​​explaining that this attack on the “legal certainty” affects “any company in the world” when investing in Argentina, while regretting how “it came” at the headquarters of a private company in this operation and how the Argentine Executive announced a national “microphones”.

In his opinion, Argentina “has opened a door difficult to close.”

He recalled that when Argentina suffered a crisis of “yard”, Spain helped this country in 2001, “against IMF advice,” and lent 1,000 million dollars to understand that there are times that “we must help other. ”

However, he stressed that “Spain is now asking not match”, but that there will be an act of “hostility of this size,” that harms the largest Spanish energy manager and he has “no explanation”.

He also criticized how the government of Cristina Fernandez tries to justify the nationalization arguing that Repsol made an excess payment of dividends, when, he stressed he did because of the law in Argentina that forced him and helped the group Petersen to finance its entry into YPF’s capital.

It also expressed surprise at the argument which speaks of the few investments in prospecting Repsol and future projects in Argentina, where an initial investment of 15,000 million dollars have been adding 20,000 million in the currency in recent years and this has let to find the largest deposits of hydrocarbons (Dead Cow).

Thus, “are weak arguments that do not conform to reality,” he added.

He recalled that he visited Argentina in February, when there was talk of a possible nationalization, and after meeting with Argentine Executive reached a verbal agreement to establish working groups and analyze the situation, without being so far you have been informed of these jobs.

Pemex hopes that Repsol makes “you have to do” to protect the value of the company and its shareholders’ rights, said the director of the Mexican public company, Juan Jose Suarez Coppel, after Argentina’s decision to expropriate most of the shares of YPF.

Pemex (Petroleos Mexicanos) has about 10 percent of the shares of Repsol and on 25 January, the Mexican public company and private Spanish group signed a letter of intent to negotiate a strategic alliance.

“We are shareholders of Repsol and Repsol have to do what you have to do to try to protect the rights of shareholders,” said Suarez Coppel told reporters on the Argentine government’s decision to expropriate a 51% stake in YPF, 57% owned by Spanish oil company.

Suárez Coppel is in this Mexican city on the Pacific coast from tomorrow to attend the Latin American edition of the World Economic Forum and a series of official events associated with this conference.

The lead manager of the Mexican company was approached by journalists in the corridors of the headquarters where they held this conference, which will participate tomorrow the Spanish prime minister, Mariano Rajoy.

“As you know, we are shareholders of Repsol. Repsol will you have to do to defend the rights of the company to try not affecting the value of Repsol itself,” said Suarez Coppel.

Pemex retains 9.5 percent of the shares of Repsol and has a seat on the board of the Spanish group.

The agreement signed on 25 January, 10-year, involves a commitment not to lower Pemex its stake in Repsol from 5 percent and not exceed 10%.

The agreement between the two parties includes explicit support to the strategic plan and the current structure of government in Repsol, and the evaluation of business opportunities that may be of mutual interest.

When Suarez Coppel was consulted about the possible impact it may have on YPF Argentina’s decision in the agreement signed between Repsol and Pemex, the Mexican director insisted that Repsol will take steps to defend the rights of its shareholders.

Spanish oil company said today that the Argentine government’s decision to expropriate 51% of YPF, all owned by Repsol, is “manifestly and gravely unlawful discriminatory”, and announced that he will take all legal measures as appropriate.

Economic growth slows down population growth but also leads to changes in human diets that increase the demand for land for agricultural production, according to a study published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A team of researchers led by led Thomas Kastner, University of Groningen in the Netherlands, which was part of Mexico’s Maria Jose Rivas Ibarrolla studied the use of land for the sustenance of the diets prevalent between 1961 and 2007.

“The food supply is a prerequisite for the functioning of human society”, they said, for whom “the arable land, producing food and rations for livestock, is the central resource that limits food production “.

Since the emergence in the mid-twentieth century the large-scale agricultural production activity has been responsible for major environmental impacts of humanity, the study said.

Agricultural production consumes most of the human use of freshwater and land ownership causes higher biomass and altered the global cycles of nitrogen and phosphorus, and generates “a significant contribution to energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions that warm the atmosphere, “recalls scientists.

The article notes that the amount of farmland needed to feed a society depends on the number of inhabitants, type of diet and food production per unit of land.

“With the lower socio-economic development rates of population growth and changing diets with a typical increase in consumption of animal protein, vegetable oils, fruits and vegetables, while the starches become less important,” he said.

Changes in diets are a general increase in demand for agricultural land, while the introduction of more advanced technologies reduces the land area needed for further production.

The researchers studied the inverse relationship of pressure and it used data from the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which show a steady increase in the average availability of calories per person in recent decades.

In the world calorie availability per person has risen from approximately 2,250 kilocalories per person per day to 2,750 kilocalories. The increases are not uniform and vary from region to region.

“Most of the global population lives in developing regions, which are likely to exhibit a greater dynamic in land claims in the coming decades,” the authors said.

“So far the growing number of global population was the main factor behind the increased use of land for food production,” they added.

In a projection, the study noted that to feed 9,000 million people with the current diet typical of developed countries and modern technologies will require “almost double the agricultural land currently used.”

The step of the oil company YPF Argentine state control today announced that President Cristina Fernández cause uncertainty among the experts consulted by us who can not imagine what formula will the Government to reverse the country’s energy deficit .

Analysts agreed about is not clear that the government headed by Fernandez have a plan for Argentina and YPF, as the main country’s oil reserves to recover and increase their production to achieve self-sufficiency in fuels.

“There will be a change in the short term. In the coming months, nothing will change. Recover reserves and production capacity is not something that is done quickly,” said the consultant Eduardo Fernandez, an expert on oil.

According to the consultant Econometrica, Argentine oil production fell last year by 6.1% to 1992 levels, while gas fell by 3.4% to 2000 levels.

Reservations with low horizons and increasing consumption, Argentina was forced last year to make heavy fuel imports, which he showed a deficit in energy trade balance of 3,000 million dollars.

Fernandez blamed for this situation today YPF, the largest producer of oil in the country, to declare and announce his speech to parliament a draft expropriation of 51% of the shares of the oil that are now in the hands of the Spanish Repsol (57.43% of the shares).

Mariano Lamothe, chief economist at consultancy Abeceb, has questioned the government taking this decision is the same as control was YPF, whose problems, has opined, “did not start yesterday, but a while, especially when the Argentine partner (Petersen , owner of 25.46% of YPF shares), began to take decisions not to invest and capture the liquidity. ”

“It is right to move towards energy sovereignty and not rely on imports, but this decision does not solve anything. Still the government did not say how it will do to increase investment in exploration. The big question is how it will fund the company to make investments that are necessary” , he opined.

According to Eduardo Fernandez, in the remainder of this year the Government will need about 17,000 million dollars to be distributed to the importation of fuel, oil and gas (14,000) and investment in YPF when taking control of the company.

For Fausto Spotorno, chief economist at the Center for Economic Studies Orlando Ferreres, “is not clear what the government wants to nationalize YPF since not only must make money for the expropriation of the shares but also reinvest profits and to invest further capital sum at a loss “.

The Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, has pledged to invest today in this legislature 578 million euros in the temporary storage of waste (ATC), to be installed in the town of Cuenca Villar de Cañas, and this year opened the stretch of the A-40 from Talavera de la Reina and Toledo.

This was revealed the regional president, María Dolores de Cospedal, after meeting with Rajoy in the Moncloa Palace, where the chief executive has moved is a priority for the Government the construction of national tourist hostel in Molina de Aragón (Guadalajara).

During the meeting, Cospedal has expressed the willingness of his Government to assist in national water planning and thanked the launch of the program for payments to suppliers, in Castilla-La Mancha will be used to pay more than 600,000 invoices, worth 2,510 million euros.

Cospedal highlighted Rajoy’s knowledge of the affairs of Castile-La Mancha and stressed that the meeting was “very fruitful and successful.”

About the plan provider, Cospedal recalled that when he reached the government knew there was a hidden debt of 3,000 million unregistered bills, so he carried out a reorganization plan and austerity to meet the deficit target.

Therefore, the regional government had the “homework done” and has been eligible for aid for the payment to suppliers because it had designed its recovery plan, necessary to qualify for this government initiative.

Rajoy has shared the concern of Castilla-La Mancha on the hydrological situation and has taken the commitment to your community to help in shaping a national policy to ensure water to all territories.

“A national water policy, has pointed out-that is dedicated to use and exploit the water we have and has no backbone exclusively as the conflict between autonomy”.

In this regard, he added that Castilla-La Mancha is working “very active”, as other communities, with the central government, in that water planning.

It also held that will aid your region for processing and conversion of vineyards, which represent more than 30 million allocated by the previous Socialist government.

For water supply, has highlighted the 37 million recorded in the general state budget for works in Ciudad Real to Toledo and 13, which will be devoted to much needed infrastructure for the “rebalancing water in the region.”

Highways, Rajoy is committed to open this year the section of the A-40 which connects the two major cities of the province of Toledo, a high demand infrastructure in Castilla-La Mancha, which is “designed in the time of PP and PP completed in time. ”

He recalled that the Government’s infrastructure plan for the period 2012-2024 are included other roads of interest to the region, such as motorways Linares-Albacete, Cuenca-Teruel Avila, Ciudad Real-Puertollano, linking the communities of Extremadura and Valencia and Tarancón-Guadalajara.