FRANCE - TUNISIA: "I just dreamed of a better life ..."

"I thought I'd be greeted as a hero," Moez admits, lowering his eyes. Disillusionment could not be greater. This 39 year old Tunisian has participated in the revolution that led to the downfall of Ben Ali on January 14 last. But when he arrived in France in early April, "in the country of the revolution of 1789" is the customs that had welcomed him.

Moez is from Gabes, a coastal city in central Tunisia. Long-term unemployed despite his State diploma Technician clothing, Tunisian revolution has restored the desire to dream. He dreams of Europe, the job he could find, the money he could send to his mother, a widow and retired. He dreams of dignity.And he knows that Tunisia will take years to recover from 23 years of dictatorship.

The wind in its sails

In mid-March, so he left Gabes to the nearby city of Zarzis, where he boarded a small fishing boat for the modest sum of 1,500 dinars, or about 800 euros, saved penny by penny for the whole family . Direction the Italian island of Lampedusa.

"We worked 24-hour crossing. There were people weeping, others vomited. With the weight of passengers, the boat sank in the sea and there was water up to their knees" says he.

The 87 passengers on the makeshift boat arrived safely at Lampedusa. Moez believes in his lucky star. "I am a lucky man," continues he repeated.His face is soft and toothless smile.

In Lampedusa, he is greeted by the Border Police who leads straight into a detention center. A week to wait. A week to sleep in the courtyard on the ground without a blanket, no mattress, before being transferred to Cretonne in central Italy.

Moez but the wind in its sails. He escapes and hits the road: a train to Ventimiglia, the French-Italian border, twenty miles on foot to Menton, France. Then up through France Charleville-Mezieres, where authorities arrested him at the station. Police station, photos, fingerprints ... Moez has seven days to leave the territory.It will not wait so much.

After two days, the police come for him at 7 o'clock in the morning at the friend who hosts it. Three cars and eight police officers were mobilized for the occasion.

"All this for me chuckle there before rebelling, I'm certainly not a terrorist! The police stopped us because of our face, our skin color. But we are not thieves . Take the boat, it's dangerous, it is suicide. It's like Bouazizi Sidi Bouzid.But we do it because we dream of a better life not to steal the bread from the French. "

"Europe must react"

After passing through the detention center (ARC) from Roissy, it is returned to where he received his Ventimiglia sesame after one week: a temporary residence for six months.

His papers in his pocket, he tried again through France.But he did not need a week before being stopped and checked by police.

"Moez beats the record of arrests because he has a mouth of an Arab!" summarizes passionately Samia Maktouf, lawyer Franco-Tunisian volunteer at the Paris Bar, who is fighting to get him a work permit.

"Europe should react and stop doing the ping-pong between France and Italy. It is contrary to the spirit of the Schengen agreement not to allow refugees to move freely. We must take steps to the height of the humanitarian tragedy, "continued the lawyer who took over the back of a twenty Tunisians.

An appeal is likely to remain a dead letter.After the tension between Rome and Paris in recent weeks following the influx of immigrants Tunisian and Libyan, via Italy, France expressed its support for strengthening the provision of temporary suspension of the free movement of Schengen.

"I am a lucky man ..."

For a week, Moez open the walls and just hide all day in the office of his lawyer, legal as well as moral support. And if Samia Maktouf short courts, prefectures and departments to plead his cause, yet it is in the privacy of the office that the solutions are.

Thanks to a Tunisian businessman, Customer Master Maktouf, passing through Paris on that day, Moez spring the firm with a job offer in hand. The interim.Just enough time to recover and return home with dignity. The shining eyes, he whispers quietly: "I am a lucky man ..."

EGYPT: EU looks into the freezing of assets of Egyptian officials

AFP - The Egyptian authorities have asked several European countries to freeze assets of former senior officials of the regime of Hosni Mubarak, but not the deposed president himself, and the issue will be addressed by the entire EU on Tuesday at a meeting in Brussels.

Paris was seized by the Egyptian authorities "a request to freeze assets of former Egyptian officials," said AFP Monday the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign AffairsBernard Valero.

"We consider this request and we will cooperate well with the Egyptian authorities," added the spokesman stating that it "does not cover former President Hosni Mubarak nor members of his family."

In London, British Foreign Minister William Hague also said to have "received a request from the Egyptian government to freeze the assets of several ancient Egyptian officials.

"We will of course cooperate" with the Egyptian authorities "working with EU and international partners as we did in the case of Tunisia," saidHague, referring to the gel by the European Union of assets of former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his family.

"If there is evidence of misuse or illegal use of public funds, we will take firm and swift action," he assured the chief of British diplomacy.

The same request to freeze assets of former officials was made by the Egyptian government in the United States, said a senior State Department official in Washington also said it was not about Mr.Mubarak.

At the request of Great Britain in particular, the EU finance ministers have decided to put the issue of a possible freezing of assets of seven former Egyptian officials on the menu at a meeting Tuesday that they must have in Brussels, told AFP a diplomatic source.

"There are six or seven Egyptians on the list, but it does not definitively Mubarak," she said.

The EU will also discuss aid to countries on the southern shore of the Mediterranean.

"I asked what was mentioned together, and I know it will be tomorrow, the situation in countries such as Tunisia, Egypt in particular, to examine the financial and economic aspects is ie at a time, investment opportunities and support, including the European Investment Bank, through the various development agencies in each of our countries, "said French Minister of Economy Christine Lagarde.

We need to "see how we can all support the democratic movement that is taking root in these countries," she added.

Germany has also announced it was approached by Egypt with a request to freeze assets.

"A request for assistance from the Egyptian authorities concerning the freezing of assets of former members of the Egyptian government and parliament came to us," he told AFP a spokesman of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "We are reviewing this request," he added.

None of the three capitals has detailed the immediate amount of the assets concerned or the personalities involved.

The name of Hosni Mubarak, who left the presidency of Egypt on Friday after 30 years in power was not mentioned either in London and Berlin. According to the British press, Mr.Mubarak holds millions of euros of assets in Britain.

Switzerland, she decided on Friday to freeze with immediate effect "the assets that could detain Mr. Mubarak and his entourage.

EURO ZONE: France and Germany want a "pact of convergence" economic

AFP - German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed on Friday a summit meeting of the euro area in March to prepare for the development of a "pact of convergence" Closer Economic European states.

"We will present the details of what we want to adopt in March during a summit of the eurozone (...) so that all observers around the world understand that all European economies is in the right direction with the interests of competitiveness, "saidSarkozy on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels.

"We asked (the President of the European Union Hermann) Van Rompuy to consult with other states in order to make a decision at the top end of March the European Union on the issue," said Ms. Merkel told reporters.

"That means we must first come to an agreement within the euro area," she said.

"We will explain this to our partners and we will have decisions to next March, first in a summit of the eurozone, the European Council and a" bringing together 27 countries across the EU, saidSarkozy.

"We want to strengthen Europe's competitiveness and its economy, we want to converge the various European economies," he said, "so it's a stronger integration of economic policy to serve a purpose: strengthen the competitiveness of our economies. "

FRANCE: Nearly 10 million French people are inadequately housed

Reuters - "A France owners, yes, but who can afford it?" This is essentially the message of the Fondation Abbé Pierre, who denounced in his annual report the character "unequal" in the current housing policy.

In a crisis marked by a rise in insecurity and the doubling of house prices in ten years, encourage the French to buy a roof can be
be risky, says the organization.

"The policy of 'any assumption' is highly questionable as subject to speculative market mechanisms, inadequate budgets of low income and very compatible with the reality of home ownership," it said in the 16th annual report Foundation Abbé Pierre.

Example given of a "budgetary and financial policy which prolongs inequality": the new loan (PTZ +) proposed non-means tested, which the government hopes it will help increase the homeownership rate in France of 58 % to 70%, the average European.

"Allowing 20% of the richest French access to the loan will cost 480 million euros to the state," lamented Patrick Doutreligne to reporters, Chief Executive of the Foundation. "This is a dogmatic choice that affects our taxes."

Are also highlighted issues of indebtedness, of social divisions and the environment, at a time when soaring prices led many new owners to stay away from downtown.

The Foundation also denounced the measures promoting evictions contained in the Act for guidance and planning for the performance of homeland security,
called "Loppsi II, which threatens the poorest, may be forced to live in tents, caves or squats.

Expulsion

"This law applies to all those who seek a solution to be able to put a roof over your head, it's crazy.It will not solve the housing crisis hits evictions, "complains Robert Christopher, Executive Assistant of the Foundation.

For the heirs of Father Pierre, housing, engulfing an average of more than a quarter of revenues of each French, should be priority candidates for the presidential election of 2012, which will submit a charter prepared for occasion.
"We want the candidates and political parties take to the fair housing needs of the French position," said Patrick Doutreligne.

"Missing 900,000 homes in France, it lacks accommodation places and meet these challenges we feel we leave to the market," he said."It is an intervention
strong public which is oriented mainly to the smaller and middle categories, which is not the case today. "

The urgency is even greater than the number of French at the threshold of poverty is increasing at the same time as inequalities: 10% of the richest households have 46% of assets, while 50% smaller 7% share.

The 2011 report on inadequate housing in France is black "to symbolize the weakness in which many families are victims of a failure or a political inertia of 30 years," wrote Chairman of the Fondation Abbé Pierre, Raymond Etienne.

In terms of proposals, the organization proposes to build 500.000 new dwellings per year to eliminate the backlog, the creation of a land law and a law
programming over five years, tax reform and more equal measures to encourage social mix.

Commission deems it appropriate to require municipalities with more than 3,500 inhabitants to build 25% of social housing, against 20% today.