LyrArc Article Gist
Prime minister Manuel Valls tells members of the National Assembly on July 8, 2015, - "France refuses that Greece leaves the eurozone in the name of our position and our committments." To make sure the Greek proposal is acceptable in Brussels, France sends advisors to Athens to help formulate the details of the proposal. Valls said France expected Greece to work on the reforms, including pension reforms, and modernize its economy. Germany's Schauble accepts the need for a haircut for the debt.

LyrArc Article Gist
Why are the French  protesting so strongly against extending the retirement age from 62 to 64. It is a question of French identity, of hard won rights to work and leisure that are seen as defining France. It also affects women differently who have a harder time working longer so that their benefits would be affected. Age discrimination is large in France so that it works against extending the age till the culture changes. Worse it comes at a time of stress for working families, and a cost of living crisis.

NYT says that when this retirement system was introduced after World War II it helped bring a fractured country together. A hard won social and labor right not easily forfeited, says NYT.

LyrArc Article Gist
Roger Cohen in the NYT says Macron has missed the public mood in France, the cost of living crisis and the social and economic problems left by the pandemic. FR24 says about two thirds of the French people think this is the wrong time to tackle the pensions issue. The change in the pensions is not an immediate solution as it will be phased in over a period of time stretching to 2030. Many solutions could have been put in place to tackle age discrimination and other problems to make it possible to work productively for longer. Macron needed to address these problems and come up with ways to lessen the burden of the cost of living crisis first before tackling longer term issues. This is a major misstep by Macron, and comes from his lack of experience as one of the youngest persons to become president of France at the age of 39. He was reelected but only with the help of voters who had supported  a socialist candidate Mr. Melenchon. Macron said after that election that he would listen carefully to the voting public that had elected him, even with reservations after the yellow vest protests about his lack of sensitivity for people struggling to make a living. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
French president Macron is seen as aloof from voter concerns about the rising cost of living. Visiting a farmer in the Burgundy region Marie Le Pen said prices of food and vegetables have gone up 25% over 5 years since Macron became president.  To win over supporters from working class communities in north and northeast who have voted for Jean Luc-Melenchon, a former Socialist candidate, Macron visited Denian, a town in the north of France.  Melenchon's France Unbowed party got about 21.95 % of the vote compared to Le Pen's 23.15%. Getting working class voters to support Macron who had 27.84% of the vote is now crucial for Macron. Denian has an unemployment rate of 36%. Macron told voters the best way to tackle poverty is to bring down the unemployment rate which is now 7.4%.  Many of these communities in the north, northeast, and in the southeast have suffered from the two decade shift of manufacturing to China, creating a situation similar to that in the midwest of the US and posing a challenge for established parties. The Republicains of De Gaulle and the Socialists of Mitterand, the established parties did badly in the election, each getting less than 5%of the vote. It is this problem that Macron has to address to get the votes of working class voters in France. Challenging the notion that he has been aloof from this problem and the problem of cost of living for young and for pensioners Macron says he will listen, learn and act, and he is "not afraid to go into battle in the most difficult areas." On this first day of campaigning for the second round he spent 2 hours talking to people in Denian. Angry voters told him he did not care for pensioners. In his response Macron said he will increase the minimum pension from 10500 euros to 13200 euros a year. A pension reform plan for increasing the retirement age for pensions to 65 from 62 will now be put to a referendum so that voters could reject it if they chose to. Macron also responded to the sentiment that his administration was more concerned about the rich by proposing that firms paying dividends to shareholders will be required to give one off bonuses of 6000 euros to all employees earning less than 46,000 euros a year.  On his opponent Marie Le Pen's plan to cut VAT tax on gasoline to 5% from 20%, Macron told voters that this was counterfeit money, asking "can anyone really say there will be no VAT for gasoline imported from the rest of the world?" ...

LyrArc Article Gist
More efficient production of nickel in Indonesia by Chinese plants is causing problems for France in New Caledonia. New Caledonia is a Pacific island with large nickel deposits that are needed for French and European electric car production. Glencore is planning to sell one of its nickel processing plants in New Caledonia. This affects employment in the island which depends on nickel for 25% of jobs. France has encouraged immigration to the island and this has created tensions with the native Kayak people. The result was riots in the island and French efforts to find solutions to develop the island's nickel industry and improve lives of local people.

LyrArc Article Gist
Mr. Macron told television viewers of a national debate with Le Pen that "she wants to take France out of the European Union, she just doesn't say it." The debate showed the clear differences between Macron and Le Pen on the European Union, on Russia and the invasion of Ukraine, on Le Pen's ties with Russia that Macron noted  during the debate. Le Pen brought up the raising of the pension age to 65 which Macron says would be done very gradually over 10 years, and Macron responded by saying this was to be able to increase pension payments and increase investments in the economy.

A snap poll by polling firm Elabe showed that for viewers of the debate the candidate they found most convincing was Macron at 59% and Le Pen at 39%.

 

LyrArc Article Gist
Tensions on the India China border as India builds roads and infrastructure in the mountainous Himalayan area close to the border in Ladakh to match the Chinese buildup of roads in the region over the last decade. India has also built up its troop presence in the region to match China's troop presence along the border in Ladakh.

India has supported a call from Australia for an investigation into the early origins of the coronavirus. The call was supported by many countries around the world and by the U.S., Japan and France. The 350,000 deaths from coronavirus and the 5.5 millions confirmed cases, the economic damage, most of them in western nations in North America and Europe, have  led to growing tensions between China and the rest of the world. 

LyrArc Article Gist
Seen as a rural urban divide, less educated and well educated and tech workers the situation in France looks similar to that in the US in the elections of 2016 and 2020. With business in the US and European Union shifting manufacturing to China and the governments neglecting rural areas, decline in standard of living for people on pensions that have not kept up with the cost of living, the situation in France as in the US is decades in the making. Bernie Sanders and Melenchon were appealing in different ways to younger people yearning for change and a system that would correct these changes.   Melenchon coming this close to less than one percentage point of Le Pen in the first round of French elections shows that a straight Macron Le Pen version of what has happened is an oversimplification, just as seeing the changes in America under president Biden vs Trump would be a simplification, as voters for Sanders who voted for Biden are changing the Biden agenda and setting America on a new path. A path to reshoring jobs that were sent to China, rebuilding American manufacturing, increasing workers wages and restoring workers leverage for higher wages, investing $2 trillion in child care, housing, supporting worker incomes and families, supporting older Americans on pensions. In the same way beneath the idea that nothing has happened after the yellow vest protests for cost of living, that has not only not gone away- but increased in the concern for cost of living in this election with the surging inflation - new developments are happening.  Even as Germany under Merkel appeared not be changing in 2020- 1 year after Merkel the situation will have changed completely to address social concerns that were ignored earlier and to invest in infrastructure in a big way. Behind this is a fundamental change that is taking place. Facing a challenge from totalitarian states the fabric of society in the free world, the US, Germany, France, other EU states, India, and nations in the free world will have to respond with changes that restore the fabric of society to what it was before this kind of fracturing, bringing all parts of society together to bring all the energies in place for rebuilding, investing in infrastructure, restoring local manufacturing and renewal. It requires a unified effort to be put in place to respond in the right way.     ...

LyrArc Article Gist
A major problem for President Hollande of France in the 2014 budget is how to handle the deficits in the country's Social Security System. Over the years the deficits were transferred to a vehicle called the Cades, which is approaching its legal ceiling of 270 billion euros. The vehicle was originally set up in 1996 with the idea of separating past deficits, so that the state could balance its budget every year for the Social Security System, which covers health care, pension and family allowances. Previous governments have for the most part bypassed this and added new deficits to Cades instead of making cuts in spending. The Hollande administration says it is controlling health care expenses and increasing pension contributions as a way to bring the deficits under control. It will not assess a special tax for the deficit in Social Security in 2014, as new taxes are highly unpopular. Cades lifetime has been extended twice, first in 1997 to 2014, and during the 2009 financial crisis to 2025. In 2010 following the crisis, Cades chairman, Ract Madoux says, the short term borrowing had reached 60 billion euros. It is down to 30 billion euros, which he still considers too high....

LyrArc Article Gist
The Iran nuclear deal of 2015 begins to unravel as the European Union takes the first step towards the reimposing of sanctions. Britain, France and Germany triggered a dispute settlement mehanism in the agreement which can result in the United Nations reimposing international sanction on Iran's economy, banks, and top officials within 2 months. This follows Iran's resumption of nuclear activities banned under the agreement. Earlier the U.S. withdrew from the agreement and the European Union tried to save the agreement. Recent tensions and the U.S. insistence on the renegotiating for a new agreement have led to this collapse of the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran.

LyrArc Article Gist
About 110,000 workers, or about 20% of the number of people retiring each year in France, will be able to retire at the age of 60 in 2013 under a new presidential decree. These are workers who started to work at the age of 18-19 and put in 41 years of contributions into the state run pension fund. The decree by French president Hollande leaves the Sarkozy reform of increasing the retirement age to 62 from 60 in place, but creates an exception for these workers, at a cost of 1 billion euros in 2013, and 3 billion euros in 2017. This could also be a way to get labor union support for public spending cuts to reduce the deficit which are expected.

LyrArc Article Gist
Li Yuan looks at the poor job prospects in China for young people over the age of 35 years whose work can be done by new university graduates at lower pay. Jobs in government are given before a person reaches 35 years. Employees laid off during the pandemic have difficulty finding work. This affects marraige prospects and starting a family, or buying a home. There is also hidden discrimination for job seekers over age 35. For women there are questions from employers about if and when they will have children.

Hidden discrimination takes place in the workplace in France where the protests against raising the pension age are fueled in addition to other reasons about its timing after the pandemic and inflation, by people over 40 years who cannot find jobs, with the burden falling harder on women. 

LyrArc Article Gist
A small group of advisers and Macon including Nicholas Sarkozy of the Les Republicains voted to have new elections. Les Republicains governed France under presidents De Gaulle and some of De Gaulle administration members Pompidou, Giscard and Sarkozy. Sarkozy was seen as aloof and was succeeded by the Socialist party's Francois Hollande. At that point in 2017 at the end of Hollande's term the Socialists failed to take up working class families issues, and it marked the beginning of the National Rally of Jean and Marine Le Pen gaining worker support. Macron was a minister in the Hollande government who detected an opportunity in the loss of support for both Sarkozy's Les Republicains and Hollande's Socialists. He set up his own movement for renewal of France saying France needed newer people than the old administrations and got an infusion of support from young people. Yet Macron lacked a specific program to get back the voter support of working class families as he implemented policy on climate without addressing concerns of cost of living leading to yellow vest protests. He was reelected im a close election with a challenge from National Rally 58% to 42% in second round after having only 5% point margin over Le Pen in first round, with help from the left vote. Macron spent the first two years of second term fighting the unions and labor over pension reform, when his measures failed to pass the Assembly he used executive action. As a result support in small towns and other parts of France has shifted to National Rally, with the immigration issue adding to support and young people frustrated by Macron not tackling key issues of working class people decided to shift to the National Rally and to Melenchon left party, and to Socialist parties. As Macron is closely allied with Les Republicains ideology he is looking for away to rebuild the LR and his EN Marche as an alternative in 2027 presidential elections. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Gerald Seib in the WSJ gives 3 reasons for reluctance of president Trump to get involved in wars in the region on behalf of the Saudis- the U.S. is less dependent on Saudi oil with its increased oil production, China, South Korea and Japan depend on Saudi oil making it necessary for these countries to pay for the conflicts not the U.S. Other reasons are the U.S and Mr. Trump's opposition to endless wars that lead to neglecting U.S. priorities such as infrastructure and building its economy.  If the wars cost trillions of dollars the U.S. expects the Saudis or Asian countries to pay the U.S. for the cost of these wars. Japan is the most dependent on Saudi oil and it is playing a constructive role to reduce tensions between Iran and the U.S. Mr. Macron of France is playing a role because the EUropean Union also imports oil and wants to prevent the Iran nuclear deal from being ditched or at least for it to be renegotiated.

LyrArc Article Gist
Living longer and healthier lives the sixty year old of today may look like a 40 year old. Working years may now be much longer say experts. Instead of 30 years, it could be 40 or 50 years. People may need to engage with meaningful work longer to have the stimulation that comes from work that interests them. The work may even be broken up in increments of 20 years, each devoted to different areas of interest. Experts say the friendship and stimulation from work is better than that in bingo halls, beaches or on a golf cart. Working part time or going back to school is in the works. It makes more sense too to accumulate savings longer as the official social security retirement ages are being extended to beyond 66 years. In fact the only age group where labor participation is already growing is in the over 55 years age group. In this sense the struggle to preserve older pension schemes retiring early look more like a thing of the past, even though they arouse passions such as in mass protests in France on this issue. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The Guardian points out that Macron is making a political choice rather than an economic imperative with making workers work longer for pensions during a cost of living crisis. France's pension advisory council says that the annual 10 billion to 12 billion euro deficit for pensions was manageable in the context of total expenditure of 340 billion euros. It also predicted agradual return to breaking even by the mid 2030's. As much as 80% of people under 65 oppose the reform says the Guardian. Macron has a minority government and won with support from working class parties led by  Melenchon, and is in his second term, so it is not clear anymore why he has pursued this course of action.

LyrArc Article Gist
President Macron of France puts forward the basic building blocks for an agreement to reduce tensions with Iran. In a speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations he says that there should be negotiations between Iran, its regional neighbors, the U.S. , European countries and China. The Obama period nuclear deal of 2015 failed because of a lack of a comprehensive settlement and including Iran's neighbors in the region. Macron pointed out that the U.S. approach under president Trump of "maximum pressure" with tighter economic sanctions has produced a response from Iran of maximum pressure on its neighbors, including the attack on Saudi oil facilities with drones that took out half of the Saudi oil supplies. Macron put forward five issues for negpotiations to focus on: certaity that Iran never acquires nuclear weapons, solution to the Yemen civil war, a regional security plan that addresses other conflicts, ensuring security of maritime navigation especially in Straits of Hormuz, lifting of economic sanctions. He pointed out that "today we have a risk of serious conflict based on miscalculation and disproportionate responses." Mr. Trump even alluded to this when he told reporters after the dismissal of John Bolton as National Security Adviser, saying Bolton made Trump look like a voice of moderation. A lot depends on who are the advisers and whether moderation is exercised on all sides.  Macron, Merkel and Britain's prime minister Johnson met with Rouhani on the sidelines of the UN meetings to encourage dialogue. Countries likely to be severely affected by oil shutoff through the Straits of Hormuz are Japan, South Korea, India and China, and are quietly pushing for an easing of tensions.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The US under president DJT puts out a new National Security Strategy in a document which states it clearly. The days of the Middle East given importance are thankfully over it says. The focus is on the First Islands, from Taiwan, Philippines to Japan for strengthening defense in relation to China. The Monroe Doctrine is now part of US foreign policy with a DJT addition- "that the American people- not foreign nations or globalist institutions- will always control our own destiny in our hemisphere."  It also means the US has a new policy towards Russia and for NATO.  The DJT administration priority, it states, is “ending the perception, and preventing the reality, of NATO as a perpetually expanding alliance.” The new strategy is that Europe needs to “take primary responsibility for its own defense.” The Monroe Doctrine and the disassociation with NATO expansion are linked. How so? Russia's foreign policy is for winning recognition as a Northern European Power with its own version of the Monroe Doctrine, being able to control its destiny in its sphere of influence. The way the Monroe Doctrine was implemented in 1823 was by a tacit recognition gained from Britain that it would support the US in its idea of no European colonial powers (France, Spain other ) being allowed to interfere in Latin America, in the western hemisphere. In 2025 the way the Monroe Doctrine is implemented with the DJT Corollary is that the US is tacitly gaining support from Russia/China for implementing the Monroe Doctrine so that no foreign powers will interfere in US sphere influence in the western hemisphere.  Where does this leave Europe and Ukraine? European Union and NATO expansion has now gone too far and NATO which was primarily for Cold War struggle between Communism and US/UK style democracies is over, but NATO has not been disbanded, or a new alliance setup with new goals. Instead as it lingers on it has created new problems such as NATO expansion to the borders of Russia, creating security risks for Russia. This has led to the war in Ukraine and the Republican administration under DJT seeks to defuse tensions and the Ukraine war by excluding NATO expansion, removing the US from European security by delegating that back to Europe (Germany and France, Italy, UK) and by acting as a moderating influence between Russia and Germany, France, that see Russia as a threat after it's attack on Ukraine. US also upholds the policy and principle of no nation invading another country, as Russia did with Ukraine, and in anticipation of the China threat to Taiwan. This part gets nuanced but the overall policy is coherent and Russia accepts this, China is gradually coming to the idea that it has to accept this situation with Taiwan to preserve its economic advances and its exports to the US and EU.  In practice once the interference of China or Russia is removed and European powers in addition, the US has freedom of action in the Western hemisphere and Latin America to prevent crises such as with drug trafficking gangs in Mexico and Venezuela, and unstable regimes sending people north to the US across the Mexican border as from Central America and Venezuela.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Are there constituent "nations" or "nationalities and regions" in Spain? Seven people drafted the Spanish Constitution that was signed by King Juan Carlos I of Spain in 1978. Two from Catalan region wanted the word "nations" instead of "nationalities and regions" instead the pro-Spain supporters including aformer minister in the Franco government wanted to keep the words "nationalities" to limit the interpretation of self-government to one that would be within Spain. Today a far right party wants to se the clauses that give self government to regions and nationalities removed from the Constitution. Catalan independence supporters say the Constitution allows the right to call a referendum. Left parties see the promises for housing, healthcare and pensions as too vague in the Constitution. What was seen as a huge advance in the early years of democracy in Spain are now seen as creating room for dissension and strife in Spain, with a fragmentation in the political parties and loss of confidence in the two main parties.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Walker of the WSJ describes how the new issues of immigration and identity are changing the way people vote in European Union countries. In the Dutch election there were other surprises. The Dutch Labor Party which won 25% of the vote in the 2012 elections fared badly and got only 6% of the vote. Much of this vote was picked up by antipopulist parties such as the Greens. Mr. Rutte, the prime minister under the current government, and his party centre right VVD won 21% of the vote. Social Democrats and Labor parties in Netherlands, France and Britain are doing badly, and even Martin Schulz's SPD's higher popularity is said to be reaching a peak and may not last till September, says Walker. Labor Party in Netherlands failed because of its participation as a junior party in a centre right government following austerity policies, say analysts. Overall as shown in Netherlands the tensions and loss of credibility of social democrats is playing out differently in each country. The Netherlands election shows that there is also an anti-populist shift that moves some of the vote from social democrats to parties such as Greens, or other parties or movements that have gained credibility as the social democrats faded.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
The WSJ's Christopher Emsden and Alessandra Galloni's interview with Italy's Labor Minister, Elsa Fornero, after major changes to Italy's labor laws including Article 18. This is a major change for Italy. She describes the problems she faced and how she has tackled them to get the new labor law passed. Fornero will set up a monitoring system to ensure that the law's imprementation takes place smoothly. To make the change Fornero took apart Article 18 to its constituent elements, preserving the anti discrimination aspect and the right to appeal, but allowing employees to be terminated for economic reasons. This puts Italy on an even footing with its europartners Germany and France, and addresses one of the main reasons Italian businesses are loath to hiring new employees. It also addresses the main reason why foreign investment in the Italian economy is so scarce. In achieving this Fornero faced the lack of support from Confindustria, the business association (which does not cease to amaze her), CGIL, the labor unions, and the political class in Italy, with each side wanting to tweak the system to make gains or get special exemptions. Fornero is a pensions expert and economics professor at the University of Turin. Her ministry covers pensions, labor, welfare and equal opportunity policies....

LyrArc Article Gist
Trofimov provides a much needed perspective to the situation in the Middle East in 2015. The title about redrawing borders on ethnic lines is misleading, as the essay's conclusions point to the need for various communities to find a way to live together without ethnic cleansing and intolerance in attitudes. With modernization different communities, Sunni and Shiite, already live together in the larger cities in the Middle East. Trofimov points out that the original intentions of U.S. president Woodrow Wilson were for diversity, and building modern institutions of government as the best way forward. This was not carried out by British and French rulers following struggles for independence against the colonial authorites. Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, Britain and France were the dominant powers, and the boundaries were drawn up for Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and other states, under the British-French Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916. Britain and France increased the role of minority groups to maintain their control following independence struggles in Iraq and Syria, a situation which helped Alawites gain control in Syria and Sunnis in Iraq. Shiite rule in todays Iraq has not lessened tensions, and intolerance only creates tensions in the broader region. Which makes redrawing boundaries around ethnic lines in a defacto acceptance of the current situation, not the lasting road to peace in the Middle East. In Iran, Russia with Britain was involved in the partition of parts of Iran into three zones, a Russian zone including Isfahan in the north, a British zone in the south east and a neutral zone in the middle. This happened in 1907 soon after a independence movement helped write a constitution in the 1901-1907 period, showing that many foreign powers were involved in the region, not just Britain and France. The discovery of oil in 1908 by a British company created the question of how to distribute the profits, which led to 70 years of disagreement and tensions in Iran. The resulting tensions exacerbated the conflict between religious authorites and Mossadegh in the early fifties with the fear of Communism, and exacerbated the conflict between the religious authorites and the government under the Shah by 1979 with misuse of oil wealth, ending with his overthrow and the supreme authority of the Ayatollah. Oil has proved to be as divisive, and wasteful of development opportunities, in Iran as it has been in Nigeria and other oil dependent nations. Multiple issues exist in the Middle East, not just the artificial redrawing of boundaries by the French and British, which makes the defacto redrawing of boundaries along ethnic divisions, not the answer but another step with its own dangers, along the path towards peace and economic development in the region. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This report in the Guardian says president Macron's party along with its small ally MoDem could win as many as three fourths of the 577 seats in parliament in the June 2017 election, or about 400-445 seats. The election showed a low turnout of 49%, with abstention highest among supporters of Marie Le Pen of the National Front on the extreme right and Le Melenchon on the extreme left.  A big loser is the Socialist Party which this report estimates losing about 200 seats. Les Republicains the other main party on the right is also a loser, as this report estimates it going from 199 seats to 70-130 seats. The National Front of Marie Le Pen could end up with one seat at worst or just below the threshold of 15 seats from 118 constituencies contested. This is because it faces competition from the right and the left parties for votes in every constitutency, and is kept out by the centre right and centre left coming together. Le Melenchon's France Unbowed is expected to win about 11-23 seats.  In this election young and working class voters stayed away, voters who supported the more extreme left and right wing parties. Chancellor Merkel called it "a vote for reforms." The big majority makes it possible for Macron to get laws to change the labor market to create more jobs, and to make changes to pension and unemployment benefits, so that France's economy can get moving again.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This report by Landon Thomas Jr. of the NYT describes what happened in the days before and the 48 hours before the referendum decision was announced by June 27, 2015. It shows talks progressing right up to Monday, June 22, 2015. By June 23 Greece received a paper marked in red from the IMF, EU and the ECB on their proposal of June 22. The Greek proposal of June 22 rejected pension cuts and removal of tax breaks for Greek islands, but proposing instead a series of tax increases and increase in pension contributions to be made by companies in Greece. The reply marked up disagreement areas on the paper which voiced objections to too many tax increases as hurting business growth, need to simplify value added taxes, and insisting on pension cuts and reforms. The two advisors Tsipras had used were a complete contrast to the new advisor and finance minister Mr. Tsakalotos he was to use in negotiations after July 7, 2015. Nikos Pappas is described here as an academic with a temper and Varoufakis as a person who would not hesitate to confront and lecture the creditors negotiators. Varoufakis who already had arguments and shouting matches with his counterparts on the other side, had a difficult relationship with the Dutch finance minister, Dijsselbloem, who was the chief of eurozone finance ministers. Dijseelbloem especially objected to Varoufakis lecturing on the need for a debt haircut. Varoufakis was removed from the discussions for a period of several weeks as a result and his reintroduction on June 25 was to have a negative effect on the EU and German negotiators. The same issue of debt came up again in discussions on June 25, 2015, and Varoufakis confronted the EU ministers by calling on the IMF's Christine Lagarde to state if the debt was sustainable. Before that Dijsselbloem had already told him flatly that any discussion on debt reduction would make a deal impossible. At one point German finance minister Schauble argued with EU official Pierre Muscovici of France about his favorable comments on the Greece proposal, saying he could not get the Greek proposal through the German parliament, and saying the ony solution now was capital controls. IMF's Christine Lagarde responded by saying that debt reduction needed to be considered. According to this report the Dutch finance mnister did not wait for Lagarde to explain- he told Varoufakis that it was take it or leave it....