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Christian Lutz

How does the EU work?

And why should I care?

MORE AND MORE, decisions made in Europe impact the day-to-day lives of Irish people, but not many know how the system works.

The union represents 500 million people and employs around 37,000 people across the continent, mostly in Brussels, home of the European Commission and Parliament, though the Parliament splits sitting time with Strasbourg.

Many laws and directives passed in Europe affect Irish people. From farmers to consumers, EU rules on imports, trade and law are prevalent across Ireland.

However, the public perception of Europe is generally tinged with some cynicism, despite Irish adults feeling that the country has done well out of membership.

So, what is the EU?

The EU is a union of 28 sovereign member states.

It encompasses a number of agencies and bodies, but decisions are made through four separate bodies.

Its basic principles are around a single European market, with freedom of movement for goods, services, workers and capital.

The free movement of workers has become a contentious issue in the UK in particular, where the Conservative party is pushing for a renegotiation of their obligations to take in other members.

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The European Council is seen as the most powerful arm of the EU.

It is where the policy direction of the EU is decided by the heads of state and government of each EU member. The council meets at summits and has its own permanent president, who is this man, Poland’s Donald Tusk:

Poland Prime Minister Alik Keplicz Alik Keplicz

The Council of Ministers is where ministers with the same portfolios meet to discuss issues both in the EU and abroad.

So, when you hear that Charlie Flanagan is meeting EU foreign affairs ministers in Brussels, he’s here.

France EU Christian Lutz Christian Lutz

They share legislative and budgetary power with the European Parliament, employ around 3,500 and has a rotating presidency that changes every six months.

Ireland held the presidency at the start of 2013, Italy holds it now and Latvia will take over in January.

The European Parliament is Europe’s directly-elected body. 11 Irish representatives, elected last May sit with 740 other MEPs from across European states.

The parliament employs 6,000 people and splits sitting time between Brussels and Strasbourg in France.

Its MEPs are aligned in groups, with the European Peoples’ Party, the Social and Democrats (S&D) and Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in control.

The S&D’s Martin Schulz, a German politician, is the President of the Parliament. Another German, Klaus Welle, is the top civil servant or Secretary General.

European Commission Headquarters Stock Press Association Images Press Association Images

The European Commission is responsible for proposing and enforcing EU laws, monitoring the treaties and overseeing the day-to-day running of the EU.

It is split into 28 Directorates General (DGs), each of which has a Commissioner. Each member state is entitled to nominate a commissioner. Ireland’s Phil Hogan is the Agriculture Commissioner.

Other DGs cover employment, energy, trade and justice among other things.

The Commission is housed in the Berlaymont building in Brussels and former Luxembourg president Jean-Claude Juncker is its president.

Ireland’s Catherine Day is the Commission’s secretary general.

So how do they make laws?

In a complex battle of wills between the various arms, essentially.

Because the proposals come from the Commission and are filtered through the Council before they hit the Parliament, the process can be slow, as the legislation is debated and rewritten.

This is the official path to legislation:

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What does the EU do?

Effectively, Europe’s biggest job is governing the single market. This covers customs, monetary policy, conservation of fish, a common commercial policy and setting a budget each year.

For context, the EU budget this year is about €142 billion.

They also have a social mandate, aiming to “correct the most glaring inequalities in European society”. It adheres to its own Charter of Basic Human Rights and uses financial aid and legislation to do this.

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50 Comments
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    Mute Ronan Flanagan
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    Jan 4th 2015, 10:01 AM

    The EU supports big business and banks. It works perfectly well for them, currently overseeing the biggest transfer of wealth to the rich that the world has ever seen.

    119
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    Mute mitch connors
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    Jan 4th 2015, 10:09 AM

    To the rich from the poor ?? For example.. Irish water charge when its privatised

    70
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    Mute Keith Loftus
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    Jan 4th 2015, 11:10 PM

    Aspire to be a big business then…

    1
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    Mute Derek Richardson
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    Jan 4th 2015, 9:33 AM

    Works like a select band of mafia gangsters

    98
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    Mute Derek Poutch
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    Jan 4th 2015, 11:37 PM

    How does the eu work ? answer it doesnt

    11
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    Mute Will Derbylight
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    Jan 4th 2015, 9:32 AM

    During the early EEC/EU years, we were major recipients of massive grants to improve our infrastructure – to allow us to start the Celtic Tiger.

    When we failed to control the Tiger – by not supervising bankers and electing mediocre/bent politicians – we blamed/blame our benefactors.

    Nothing to do with us…..

    92
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    Mute Scipio
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    Jan 4th 2015, 10:19 AM

    You’re right. Bondholders speculating on an Irish property bubble is nothing to do with the average Irish person.

    80
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    Mute Richard Cynical
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    Jan 4th 2015, 10:35 AM

    What I get confused about when it comes to Europe, is it is acceptable to go against their rules on things like VRT but we are forced to pay water charges and are told everyone in europe pays water tax…fair enough stop charging 3 different types of tax on my car and I will.

    80
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    Mute Robin Hilliard
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    Jan 4th 2015, 10:41 AM

    The crash was due, almost entirely, to the failure of irish homeowners and Irish developers to repay loans on Irish properties taken out from Irish banks, operating subject to Irish regulation under Irish legislation enacted by the Irish legislature elected by the Irish people.

    In fairness, it had quite a lot to do with Ireland.

    53
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    Mute Richard Cynical
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    Jan 4th 2015, 10:45 AM

    @ robbin And is it our fault every chancer In europe bet on ireland and lost and we have to to give them a money back special, just incase no body gambles here again

    61
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    Mute Michael Connors
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    Jan 4th 2015, 11:11 AM

    We are not forced to pay water charges by the EU. We have an opt out. We are forced to pay water charges by the Troika because we owe them a lot of money and they want it back.

    35
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    Mute shane murphy
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    Jan 4th 2015, 11:22 AM

    Alot you know thats called been set up for the big fall they pump money in make everyone happy with the quality of life they have then they crash the economy and take everything for way less then the value big businesses do it all the time thats how the imf works just look at what they did in Brazil until they were thrown out now Brazil have one of the strongest economies in the world the eu imf are vampires sucking countries dry of resources

    28
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    Mute Robin Hilliard
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    Jan 4th 2015, 12:15 PM

    @shane, so you reckon economic crashes are “good for business”?

    Do you have any idea at all what it’s like trying to run a business during a crash?

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    Mute shane murphy
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    Jan 4th 2015, 1:02 PM

    Do you? I don’t see macdonalds suffering and im talking international corporations and banks look at all the small banks insurance companies and pretty much every small business going bust big businesses come on take them over for nothing and reap all the rewards open your eyes we were caught wholesale the imf own everything of value the people paid back bad debts and and the rich got richer who own Irelands natural resources? Amazing the money came into the country when the oil off the coast was found what a coincidence!

    12
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    Mute Robin Hilliard
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    Jan 4th 2015, 3:21 PM

    Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. I’m a director of a fully irish-owned company, selling fully irish-produced products, which is about 75% export which almost went bust during the crash. We’re now back up to 15 people.

    What’s your experience of running an international company?

    7
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    Mute shane murphy
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    Jan 4th 2015, 3:26 PM

    So you should know more about it as you said yourself you took a hit and survived and fair play I appalled you but as I said I’m talking about multi national corporate dealing in millions and billions their the one’s who set up the crash to profit from it

    10
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    Mute shane murphy
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    Jan 4th 2015, 3:28 PM

    And you dont need a business to see what happened it was planned and executed perfectly

    10
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    Mute graham galvin
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    Jan 4th 2015, 3:52 PM

    Your right Shane. I recommend reading “confessions of an economic hitman” by john Perkins. You will see exactly what happened to Ireland.

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    Mute shane murphy
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    Jan 4th 2015, 3:56 PM

    I did read a small bit of it! Gald u agree

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    Mute Darragh Kelly
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    Jan 4th 2015, 7:12 PM

    @Shane, You said: “I don’t see macdonalds suffering…”

    ‘McDonald’s Profit Down 30% On Sales Slump’
    http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurengensler/2014/10/21/mcdonalds-profit-down-30-on-sales-slump/

    having named one company – only one – you’d think at the very least, that you’d have checked things out to be sure you were right! Try reading something instead of just guessing/supposing/generalising off the top of your head next time.

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    Mute shane murphy
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    Jan 4th 2015, 7:20 PM

    Fair enough but they are not suffering the way small business are its not like their shutting down macdonalds that probably has alot more to do with competition and peoples awareness of wat their putting in their bodies then economic downturn!

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    Mute Darragh Kelly
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    Jan 4th 2015, 7:44 PM

    Sorry, I have no idea what any of that means and I’m not going to waste my time working out your English in order to get to your, probably very weak, point thereunder.

    4
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    Mute Keith Loftus
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    Jan 4th 2015, 11:12 PM

    Wrong

    1
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    Mute Keith Loftus
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    Jan 4th 2015, 11:14 PM

    Your confused because your using the words “their” and “we” Thats OK though

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    Mute Keith Loftus
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    Jan 4th 2015, 11:19 PM

    Every chancer bets on everyone. In the 1980′s bondholders lent Ireland money and we had to pay it back. In the 1970′s bondholders lent Ireland money and we had to pay it back. In the 1960′s bondholders lent Ireland money and we had to pay it back etc etc ETC .. Grow up people of Ireland!!

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    Mute KeiKe
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    Jan 4th 2015, 10:13 AM

    We’d be better off out of the EU its a disaster.

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    Mute Will Derbylight
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    Jan 4th 2015, 9:18 AM

    Best thing that ever happened to us…..

    64
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    Mute mitch connors
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    Jan 4th 2015, 9:37 AM

    Ireland pays back 9000 euro for every person , Latvia is second at 400 euro per person … Yeah it’s the best thing that happened to us

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    Mute Robin Hilliard
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    Jan 4th 2015, 12:00 PM

    Not sure where you got that figure of 9,000 euro (it’s in the same order of magnitude of the bank bailout, over the course of that, which could be more than 20 year). But are you aware that every man, woman and child pays around 5,500 euro per year for social security here in Ireland – 40 percent of government expenditure?

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    Mute Juninho
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    Jan 4th 2015, 12:55 PM

    It’s € 9,000 before the pension fund dippings are even taken account. That brings the figure to about €13,000. We shouldered 44% of the entire European banking bailout. How is that fair?

    Robin, the vast majority of that €5,500 per year stays in Ireland, whereas the €13,000 is all flowing out of the country. To compare the two and try and stir up resentment towards SW recipients is not fair at all.

    26
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    Mute Mark O'Hagan
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    Jan 4th 2015, 9:18 AM

    Badly.

    49
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    Mute Michael Budd
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    Jan 4th 2015, 9:36 AM

    I was about to say the same thing.

    30
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    Mute Horgay H
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    Jan 4th 2015, 10:44 AM

    We should leave the EU.

    There are many reasons why. The number one being the fact that the European Commission is an unexpected body that has the power to enforce laws on us that we had no have in deciding. To its very core it’s undemocratic.

    Some more recent reasons:
    Germany and France have lately yet again shown they are bullies by saying they will not adhere to certain monetary rules, saying because they are so big that shouldn’t have to.

    The EU supports Islam over other religions.? Look at Syria. The FSA said that should they won the would turn secular Syria into an Islamic state with Sharia law getting rid of constitutional courts. The EU had no problem with this.

    The EU continues to support the terrorist apartheid state that is Israel despite talk otherwise.

    The corruption issue. Over half the budget lost to corruption. Come again?

    45
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    Mute Scipio
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    Jan 4th 2015, 11:00 AM

    The way things are going the EU will be an Islamic Caliphate within a century. Sounds like scaremongering doesn’t it? But take a close look at demographic trends and you’ll see it’s entirely possible. Germany for instance is set to become majority Muslim within 50 years if the current birthrates and immigration trends are maintained.
    I’m glad I probably won’t be alive to see it.

    29
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    Mute Philip Riordan
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    Jan 4th 2015, 11:50 AM

    Its a failed project with over paid politicians fuk the EU and FG

    44
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    Mute John T Waters
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    Jan 4th 2015, 11:42 AM

    Ask Mr. Financial Market the question;
    “Would you like to control the economies of

    a) One 22 Nation Block with just Plan one A
    or
    B) 22 autonomous nations, each with Plan B, Plan C…..should the Plan A bullies start to make life difficult

    Building our infrastructure was a carrot. Politicians all the way through the system are helpless….piece of genius by the bad guys. Just they didn’t bank on (excuse the pun), the average Joe Soap becoming as knowledgeable as he is today. Only the people can stop these rats

    41
    Glen
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    Mute Glen
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    Jan 4th 2015, 9:19 AM

    Eh it doesn’t !

    37
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    Mute Gary Gary
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    Jan 4th 2015, 9:18 AM

    Fear not we have Brian Hayes in Europe he has our backs.

    35
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    Mute mitch connors
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    Jan 4th 2015, 9:28 AM

    And Hayes is doing a bad job of it … Infact he’s doing a terrible job

    51
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    Mute Cheeky Bums
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    Jan 4th 2015, 9:20 AM

    … And we sent Ming.

    34
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    Mute Robin Hilliard
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    Jan 4th 2015, 11:55 AM

    The man is a national embarrassment.

    15
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    Mute Sean J. Troy
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    Jan 4th 2015, 1:25 PM

    I agree with his stance on overhauling drug legalisation. But other than that, he’s an idiot. How do you expect to have a serious debate about legalising soft drugs when you’re dressed in a hemp suit? Like it or not, you have to play by certain rules to get things done.

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    Mute Cheeky Bums
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    Jan 4th 2015, 1:44 PM

    I concur.

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    Mute Dermot Ryan
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    Jan 4th 2015, 11:39 PM

    Enda is a bigger National embarrasment !….Or Charlie “Cult” Flanagan …

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    Mute Gis Bayertz
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    Jan 4th 2015, 9:55 AM

    It doesn’t

    17
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    Mute Derek Richardson
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    Jan 4th 2015, 9:36 AM

    Mr derbylight ecb was one of the main instigators what transpired which when I last looked was tied to the eu

    16
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    Mute Angry Squirrel
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    Jan 4th 2015, 11:04 AM

    Not very well

    7
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    Mute Paul Creedon
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    Jan 4th 2015, 3:48 PM

    How the EU REALLY works
    http://youtu.be/cO4Ayo4mYZg

    3
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    Mute Keith Loftus
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    Jan 4th 2015, 11:21 PM

    If you don’t like living in Ireland why don’t you move ?

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    Mute Luke Evans
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    Jan 5th 2015, 4:08 PM

    EU is like FIFA, corrupt to it’s very core

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    Mute Pepper Brooks
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    Jan 4th 2015, 9:34 AM

    Best thing ever

    1
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    Mute Pepper Brooks
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    Jan 4th 2015, 9:31 AM

    Well

    1
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