23/05/2012 World Business Report

Those are the latest headlines. Now it is time for World Business

Growing pains - European leaders meet in Brussels to discuss plans

to boost economic wealth. And Greeks bearing gifts - we speak

to the man charged with selling off state treasures to raise much-

The leaders of the year's 27 states meet in Brussels for deer later on

the menu -- dinner later. A succession of government spending

cuts and tax rises combined with unemployment rises has caused a

sharp fall in living standards for most Europeans.

Signing up to growth promoting measures in Washington was one

thing, getting cash-strapped Euro nations to agree concrete measures

for the growth pact is trickier. The leaders have given themselves a

month from tonight to formulate this new spending package. Greta

spending to be discussed informally may include backing for bonds,

paying for transport, communications and energy for

poorer states. Leaders wanted to stop the European investment banks.

Other ideas to create jobs by allocating 82 billion euros had so

far anechoic -- so far I'm It is not austerity or growth. They

are insisting on it because austerity has become a dirty word.

Stability is essential. If you take certain measures to reform labour

markets and so on, the ideas that have been talked about, you can

have both of them simultaneously. They have realised the only way to

solve this crisis is to get the fiscal house in order. Posterity

alone seems to be sending these economies on to a downward spiral -

- austerity. Francois Hollande were the summer to go further. He is

building support for neutralising more of the continent's debt

mountain by issuing Europe-wide bonds. That is one idea to find

growth that has still gone too far for Germany.

Growth may be a long way off for economies like Greece. The country

has other means of raising cash. One condition of its second bail-

out was that it would sell off some of state owned assets like its oil

refineries, ports and betting agents. The government had hoped to

raise 19 billion euros by 2015, but uncertainty risks delaying that

timetable. We speak to the chief executive of the Hellenic Republic

as a development fund. We speak to him now. Is there a risk that this

whole programme could be derailed, given the outcome of the election?

Of course there is a risk. This is not a private citation project. --

privatisation. It's in their development and infrastructure

concessions. It has a tremendous economic impact. It will account

for an extra 3% in growth. So why should one might to derail such a

programme? Is the public committed to it and are the other parties

committed to it? I think the public is strongly behind such a programme.

It is a programme for jobs and the public would blooded. political

parties are on the other side, but I think they will support it at the

end of the day. This is privatisation on a huge scale and

the timetable is pretty short. Is there a risk that you won't get the

best value-for-money? Of course there is a risk. It is not about

selling assets, it is about developing assets. It is about

inviting international investors to invest in Greece. It is a long

process and will take a long time. That is why we have shifted targets.

We believe it can be done, though. The key question is the level of

uncertainty that investors currently face, which is phenomenal.

Given the uncertainty, as it meant there are few people who have come

forward to take part in the programme? We have recently had

expressions of interest for the gas company. We have had 17

international companies expressing interest. There is tremendous

interest from all around the world for Greek assets. How does that

compare to other programmes? give you an example, the Portuguese

when they put on the market their electricity company, they had five

In the Netherlands the law house of Parliament is due to vote on a new

EU bail-out fund. The used stability mechanism would be has

the firepower to 550 billion euros. It is due to start operating from

the start of July. It is hoped the fund could be used to rescue any

states they run into future debt problems.

More bail-outs by a Spanish lender. The Government is expected to pump

another 10 billion euros into the bank, which is struggling with

massive debts on home loans. The lender is now owned by Spanish

taxpayers after coming close to insolvency.

In Asia, Japan has reported a bigger than expected rise in its

trade deficit. The buds third- biggest economy and exporters faced

a surge in gas and oil prices. Japan took all nuclear reactors

offline after last year's tsunami. As a result, the gap between what

Japan bought and sold overseas rose to $6.5 billion.

Shares in the Broads third biggest PC knackered Dow fell 11% on

Tuesday it after the company reported disappointing earnings.

Hewlett-Packard is poised to slash up to 30,000 jobs. Both HP and Dell

are struggling to compete in a fast-changing digital landscape.

Our correspondent has more. HP was the original Silicon Valley

start-up. Founded in a garage back in 1939. Once famous for innovation

in printers and laser laptops and PCs it then lost its way. Hewlett

Packard has a special place here at the New York Stock Exchange. It is

one of the elite band of companies that make up the Dow Jones

industrial average, the world's most famous share index. Recently

it has been pushing that index down. HP shares have crashed 60% in value

since reaching a peak 2.5 years ago. HP is now expected to cut tens of

thousands of jobs, but some say that is only part of the solution.

They really need to spend more money on richer pitch and

development. Over the past three or four years that is one thing that

they have severely lack. There is no reason why a massive company

like Cunard Park cut cannot have innovated end sexy products.

Hewlett-Packard. The company is being held back by battles in the

boardroom. It has been through five chief executives in eight years.

One was felled by a sexual scandal. The latest incumbent, recruited

from eBay, has been in the top jobs in September. Can she turn things

around? She is certainly an excellent manager, as she proved in

her time at Key Bay. We think that in the near-term she's going to do

a good job of steering the ship in terms of cutting costs and getting

back into R'n'B. Is she the one to come up with a grander vision for

the company? That we are not Shorrock. It is that vision dimmed.

Page be had at once, the question Let's take a look at how the