The Great Nordic Thread
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Question: Will Iceland and Norway ever join the EU?
#1
Iceland, but not Norway
 
#2
Norway, but not Iceland
 
#3
Both
 
#4
None of them
 
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Total Voters: 178

Author Topic: The Great Nordic Thread  (Read 201156 times)
Aboa
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« Reply #1100 on: September 20, 2018, 03:24:56 PM »

The party started out in 2007 as the New Alliance, a very Macronista-style party. Two of the founders were MEP; one Conservative in EPP and one Social Liberal in ALDE. By 2009, the party had completely collapsed and two of the three founders had left the party, which the remaining founder Anders Samuelsen turned the party into the Liberal Alliance. They were now primarily focused on right-wing economic reforms. In the 2009 EP campaing, the young student Benjamin Dickow seemed quite EU-positive, although wanting radical reforms of the budget (stop spending on CAP etc.), and the party was in an electoral alliance with Liberals and Conservatives. The party was so far from getting a seat, so I'm not sure they even thought much about where to sit, but ALDE would have seemed logical. As the party started to re-establish itself, it became more Eurosceptic. The focus was still on cutting costs and bureaucracy, but they also started to use the terms of sovereignty and self-determination. So in the 2014 EP election, the party deemed itself so far from Liberals and Conservatives that they ran on their own. When asked, the party said they would prefer a new group of somewhat Eurosceptic liberals, but that was never going to happen. They had some contacts with the AECR, so they would probably have joined ECR. In the 2015 EU justice opt-in campaign, they campaigned for no. However, since entering government in the end of 2016, the Euroscepticism has been toned down. They have decided to run in an electoral alliance with the Liberals and Conservatives at EP 2019, so in that way they are back among the standard pro-European centre-right parties. This makes it harder to predict where they will end up. With British Conservatives out of ECR, that group is probably less attractive for them, but neither EPP nor ALDE is a fantastic fit either. I guess their campaign answer will be the same:"We hope to build a new group".
Well they wouldn't be the first somewhat badly fitting Nordic party to join ALDE.
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Helsinkian
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« Reply #1101 on: September 21, 2018, 09:14:47 AM »

A while ago Finland's Foreign Minister Timo Soini (Blue Reform) attended a pro-life rally while visiting Canada on official business. This caused a controversy back home and the red-green opposition (SDP, Left Alliance, Greens) and the Swedish People's Party brought a confidence vote to the parliament floor against Soini on the grounds that his anti-abortion activism is contrary to Finland's official policy.

Today that motion failed. Christian Democrats voted with the government. Finns Party abstained. Before the vote some NCP MPs hinted that they might vote against Soini but in the end these rebels just did not vote.
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DavidB.
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« Reply #1102 on: September 21, 2018, 10:02:01 AM »

As for LA, I think they would have been much more willing to join ECR if DF had not been there...
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« Reply #1103 on: September 21, 2018, 10:28:40 AM »

whatever happened to that Finnish Liberal Party plan that was supposed to come out of the woodwork?
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Diouf
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« Reply #1104 on: September 21, 2018, 10:59:07 AM »

Mette Bock comments on EU and LA's potential group in the EP after being appointed lead candidate:

"Europe's hour of destiny is approaching. We have Brexit and Trump, who turns their backs towards Europe. We have Eastern European member states who suppress fundamental political rights. We have a giant migration challenge and Southern European economies in ruin. So know we need to find out what this community should take care of, and what should be left to the member states.

There is a possibility that new groups will emerge. We know they might. So I haven't made up my mind yet. But I can assure you it will be a liberal group.

I'm a great supporter of the EU-cooperation. We can't do without it. It's more important than ever because the World looks as it does at the moment. That doesn't mean you can't be critical towards the huge bureaucracy that has been developed, and the very detailed regulation of everything the EU has dealt with. But we also need to really support a strengthened cooperation, so Europe gets a voice and influence in the international order. "

https://www.altinget.dk/artikel/liberal-alliance-udpeger-kulturminister-til-ep-spidskandidat
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Aboa
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« Reply #1105 on: September 22, 2018, 07:15:36 AM »

whatever happened to that Finnish Liberal Party plan that was supposed to come out of the woodwork?
Liike Nyt? Nothing much supposedly recruiting candidates for next parliamentary election, they are  to announce whether they participate next month. Two independent groups in Municipal Councils have joined them and according to Harkimo they are talks with ten other groups.

If they decide to run candidates, they won't be registering a party but instead run as independent candidates (which requires collecting 100 signatures) in an electoral alliance.

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NewYorkExpress
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« Reply #1106 on: September 25, 2018, 02:59:09 PM »

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45637386

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Who is the most likely next Prime Minister of Sweden, and if no agreement on a PM is reached, which party is favored in hypothetical elections?
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Diouf
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« Reply #1107 on: September 30, 2018, 03:12:02 PM »

Christian Democrat leader wants to enter government with centre-left

The leader of the Christian Democrats, Knut Arild Hareide, has called an extraordinary party congress for 2 November to discuss the party's next move. Hareide has stated that the party's current position as support party for a H-Frp-V government is untenable; it must enter government to better be able to advance its causes. Hareide prefers the party to join an Ap-Sp-KrF government, but if there isn't agreement for that, he would want the party to join Solberg's government. Hareide states that the party is closest to Sp and H, but since those two parties don't want to cooperate, he would prefer the centre-left option. This is partly because he believes the liberal (in terms of bio ethics, economy, family policies) wing of H has won too much influence of the party over the conservative wing, which was more in line with KrF.

In a new book "What Matters", Hareide praises Ap leader Jonas Gahr Střre for embracing his Christianity in public, and emphasizes that both Ap and Krf has a big focus on community and solidarity, nationally and internationally. Hareide calls the last five years as support party for a centre-right government "unsatisfactory", mostly due to the influence of Frp. He describes his party's role as always starting with a 0-2 deficit, and then doing everything it can to make it 2-2, and is then afterwards forced to celebrate a draw. He states that Krf and Frp are far apart on issues such as inclusion, respect for all humans' dignity, solidarity with the vulnerable, the fight for a fair world and the responsibility for environment and climate.

Both deputy leaders in KrF prefer to join Solberg's government, while former PM Kjell Magne Bondevik supports Hareide. Newspaper VG surveyed 259 local councillors; 55.6% believes the party should join the centre-right, 23.9% that the party should join the centre-left, while 20.5% is uncommitted or doesn't prefer any side. Among the 16 regional leaders, 8 prefer to join the centre-right government while 3 wants to join the centre-left government, while the last 5 haven't made up their mind or won't comment yet. One of the aspects that many opponents to Hareide's suggestion talk about is fear that a centre-left government will depend too much on SV. A majority in Krf Youth also prefers the party to join Solberg's centre-right government. If Hareide's suggestion is rejected, I doubt he can continue as party leader.

In the most recent pollofpolls.no average, the party is down to 3.5% from 4.2% in the 2017 general election. The threshold is 4%, although regional strengh would ensure that the party would still have some representation in parliament.
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Diouf
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« Reply #1108 on: October 01, 2018, 03:44:02 AM »

The division in the Christian Democrat parliamentary group largely mirrors that of the party as a whole. 4 of 8 MPs want to join Solberg's government, while 3 (including Hareide) wants to join a centre-left government. One does not want to express his preferences. A Kantar poll for TV2 shows a overwhelming right lean among the KrF voters. 87% say the party is right wing, while 13% says the party belongs to the left wing of politics.
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Helsinkian
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« Reply #1109 on: October 04, 2018, 09:38:53 AM »

SDP consolidates their lead in Finland. Election coming next April.

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EPG
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« Reply #1110 on: October 04, 2018, 03:35:12 PM »

Which government does Finland currently have, and is its majority as unnecessarily large as always?
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Aboa
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« Reply #1111 on: October 04, 2018, 04:07:11 PM »

Which government does Finland currently have, and is its majority as unnecessarily large as always?
Centre-NCP-Blue Future which due to breakup of Finns Party and couple of defections now has uncomfortably slim majority of 104-96 which might come back to bite them when (or if) parliament votes on social, health care and regional reforms later this autumn.
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Diouf
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« Reply #1112 on: October 05, 2018, 10:29:37 AM »

Minister of Education not to seek re-election



The most popular Liberal Alliance minister, 42-year old Merete Riisager, is not running for re-election at the next general election. The Minister of Education has been a MP since 2011, and minister since LA entered the government in 2016. She states that she wants to spend more time with family and friends:"I miss talking to my children while they are doing their homework. I miss looking deeply in my husband's eyes. I want to concentrate on something else now. Meet the friends who barely remember me. We only have one life and if something feels right, it probably is". Before she entered politics, she worked with work life learning, her last employment was at LEGO. She has had a fairly difficult job in implementing/administering a school reform, that she and LA was opposed to (see more at the previous page under previous minister Christine Antorini). However, she has managed to undermine parts of the reform, and thereby creating good relationsships with the opponents of the reform, including the prominent leader of the Teacher's Union. She has been particularly opposed to the longer school days introduced by the reform, and instead focused on a higher quality of the education and cracking down on noise in the classroom and cheating at exams.
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Diouf
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« Reply #1113 on: October 05, 2018, 04:12:42 PM »

VG is running a great tracker of the 190 delegates, who will vote in the KrF extraordinary congress on 2 November. The delegates are the members of the executive committee, MPs, representatives of regional divisions (number according to KrF votes in national and local elections) as well as representatives from KrF Youth. The regional leader is certain to be one of the delegates, but the regional organizations will elect the remaining delegates in the next weeks before the congress. There are some discussions about whether the delegates should be bound by the local party's decision or vote according to their own views. It sound like most regions will choose the latter model, although the KrF Youth leader says that their delegates will be bound by the majority's decision (join Solberg's centre-right government).

Out of the 45 known delegates so far, 23 wants to join Solberg's government, 16 wants to join a centre-left Ap-led government, 2 doesn't want the party to join a government, while 4 hasn't decided yet/won't tell. Note this includes all 12 KrF Youth delegates in the Blue Column according to the above comment by the leader, but there seems to be some internal discussion about whether that is really the case. There doesn't seem to be rules against faithless delegates anyway.

https://www.vg.no/spesial/2018/krf-avstemning/?utm_source=vgfront&utm_content=row-4
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Diouf
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« Reply #1114 on: October 09, 2018, 01:52:23 PM »

KrF Youth decided that delegates are unbound, so instead of a 12-0 advantage for delegates favouring the centre-right, the advantage will only be 7-5. Among the six known delegates (out of a total twelve) from KrF Women,  2 have announced a preference for the centre-left option while 4 haven't announced a position. The only region to have elected its delegates so far is KrF Akershus (Oslo suburban region), where 4 of 9 prefer the centre-left, 1 prefer the centre-right while 4 haven't announced a preference yet.

59 of the 190 delegates are known. 27 prefer centre-left, 19 prefer centre-right, 11 haven't announced, and 2 prefer not to join any government. It will be very interesting to see the delegates picked from the heartland in Rogaland (16 delegates), Vest-Agder (10 delegates), and Aust-Agder (8 delegates).

https://www.vg.no/spesial/2018/krf-avstemning/?utm_source=vgfront&utm_content=row-4
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Diouf
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« Reply #1115 on: October 18, 2018, 08:16:06 AM »

Alternative Copenhagen Mayor resigns amid resume lies, nepotism and expensive new office decor



After less than a year in the job, Niko Grünfeld from the Alternative yesterday resigned from his post as Mayor of Culture in Copenhagen. His resignation follows weeks of coverage which revealed several unfortunate issues. These issues revolved around three different things. Firstly, it was revealed that he did not have a masters degree in positive psychology as he had hitherto claimed and used on his resume. At first, he accused a journalist of committing the mistake in an interview article but that explanation was later undermined by evidence that he had submitted the information himself. Secondly, upon his election as Mayor of Culture, he ordered a redecoration of his mayor office which ended up costing 130 000 DKK (17 500 euro). And while one of his campaign points had been a more transparent municipal purchasing deal which took into account environmental and social concerns, all the new purchases for his office was made outside the existing purchasing deal. Also the mayor's office had a fair share of different classic furniture to pick from already. It probably didn't help that some aspects of the redecoration was... well alternative. Finally, the architect who carried out the redecoration was the sister of the administrative leader of the Alternative, so accusations of nepotism have also been a part of the criticism.

These cases in itself might not have been enough to warrant a resignation, but Grünfeld's position in the Alternative city council group was already tenuous so he has received a lot of internal criticism and little support. Furthermore, the general holier-than-thou attitude in the Alternative perhaps caused them to receive extra criticism in cases like these. Grünfeld is from the fundi-wing in the party, close to party leader Uffe Elbćk and has been seen as one of the frontrunners to be the next party leader. However, this has caused concern among some of the lower-level members of the party, who seem him as being pushed forward by the party leadership without much discussion. That criticism was also voiced when Grünfeld and the party leadership chose the less influential position as Mayor of Culture instead of a more hardcore policy area like Mayor of Employment and Integration when posts were distributed in Copenhagen. This case is another poor case for the Alternative, which has had a difficult 12 months. This was their first real position of power with one of their young hopes, and then it ends like this. It has received enough national attention that it could further decrease their polling support as voters choose more professionel-looking centre-left parties.

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Diouf
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« Reply #1116 on: October 20, 2018, 03:19:35 PM »

Some of the big KrF regional divisions have chosen their delegates, and it is not good news for Hareide. The biggest delegation of all, Rogaland (the southwestern region with Stavanger as capital), has chosen its 16 delegates. 15 of these delegates prefer the right-wing to Hareide's left wing option. Hordaland has chosen its 14 delegates (10 Blue, 3 Red, 1 don't know) and Mřre & Romsdal has chosen its 12 delegates (9 Blue, 3 don't know).

114 delegates of 190 delegates have been chosen. 59 prefer the Blue option, 37 prefer the Red option while 18 don't know or haven't announced yet.

https://www.vg.no/spesial/2018/krf-avstemning/
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Diouf
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« Reply #1117 on: October 31, 2018, 05:20:53 PM »

All 190 delegates have now been chosen, and it looks like a blue majority that would mean KrF negotiating to enter Solberg's cabinet and likely the end for Hareide's stint as leader. 99 delegates have stated they would prefer to join the current government (18 prefer not to join the government, but would choose a right-wing one), 90 delegates wants to join a government with the centre-left (8 prefer not to join the government, but would choose a left-wing one) and 1 delegate states she wants to deliver a blank vote. Hareide and his allies are hoping that the secret method of voting means that there is a chance that some soft centre-right delegates could be turned around. Some in the blue camp wants to ensure that doesn't happen, and has called for the voting system to be changed to a public one. The congress is this Friday, 2 November.
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Helsinkian
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« Reply #1118 on: October 31, 2018, 05:40:20 PM »

Minor crisis in the Finnish Greens. Touko Aalto was elected chairman by the party's members last year. During his chairmanship the party's poll support fell from 17 percent to 12 percent (still higher than the last election result, of course). The political pressure and personal problems drove Aalto to a burnout which he cited as the reason of his resignation as chairman last month.

The Greens' rules state that if a chair quits in the middle of the term, it is up to the party's executive council to choose an interim chair who will serve until the next party congress. This means that a group of only 43 people get to choose the next Green leader. Many thought that this would be the former chairman Ville Niinistö. However, not only did he reject this, he also announced that he's not even running for parliament next spring.
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Diouf
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« Reply #1119 on: November 01, 2018, 04:27:38 PM »

The leadership in KrF has agreed on the details for the voting procedure tomorrow, although the procedure will still need to be accepted by the delegates at the congress tomorrow. The leadership agreement is that voting will be secret as preferred by Hareide and his allies. The three possibilities (government with the centre-left, government with the centre-right, status quo outside government) will be put to a vote, and the two options with the highest votes will go through to a final vote. This was a concession to those preferring status quo, as its chances is now slightly higher than with the original plan, where there would first be a vote on government/outside government, and then a second vote on which government to join. However, the statements from the elected delegates suggest that it should clearly be the two government options that progresses to the final vote.

The extraordinary congress is set to start at 11.00 tomorrow at the Scandic Hotel at Oslo Airport. It will be televised on NRK2 and KrF's Facebook page.
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Diouf
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« Reply #1120 on: November 02, 2018, 05:43:28 AM »

It was a relatively tight vote on the voting procedure. Hareide and his leadership who preferred a secret vote won 101 votes, while proponents of a public vote won 89 votes. The vote on the order of votes between the alternatives was less tight with the threeway-option with a run-off vote clearly winning. One of the opposition proponents came with a clever proposal (first vote on left wing vs. right wing if in government, and then on government/opposition). That would have meant a much bigger possibility for the opposition vote as many of the losers from the first round would likely prefer opposition. However, this proposal did not get a lot of support.
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Diouf
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« Reply #1121 on: November 02, 2018, 11:10:11 AM »

The result of the first round is 84 votes for the centre-left government option, 76 votes for the centre-right government option, and 30 votes for status quo. Thereby, the two government options continues to a final vote. Most of those favouring status quo have said before the congress they would prefer the centre-right option. NRK's predicted 33 votes for the status quo option beforehand, and that 9 of these would break for the centre-left, 23 for the centre-right, and 1 blank.
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Diouf
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« Reply #1122 on: November 02, 2018, 11:18:35 AM »

98 votes for the centre-right option, 90 votes for the centre-left option. 2 blanks.

KrF will start negotiations to enter the Solberg government. Hareide resigns.
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Helsinkian
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« Reply #1123 on: November 03, 2018, 10:03:26 AM »

Minor crisis in the Finnish Greens. Touko Aalto was elected chairman by the party's members last year. During his chairmanship the party's poll support fell from 17 percent to 12 percent (still higher than the last election result, of course). The political pressure and personal problems drove Aalto to a burnout which he cited as the reason of his resignation as chairman last month.

The Greens' rules state that if a chair quits in the middle of the term, it is up to the party's executive council to choose an interim chair who will serve until the next party congress. This means that a group of only 43 people get to choose the next Green leader. Many thought that this would be the former chairman Ville Niinistö. However, not only did he reject this, he also announced that he's not even running for parliament next spring.

The two-time presidential candidate Pekka Haavisto was elected as chairman. He intends to lead the party only through the elections of the spring, until the party congress next summer.
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Diouf
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« Reply #1124 on: November 08, 2018, 06:25:39 AM »

Social Democrat Group Leader:"We must untangle ourselves from international conventions and courts"



The Social Democrat group leader Henrik Sass Larsen has again made some very significant comments that goes well outside the party line. The group leader is a central position in a party with roles similar to a chief whip, and Sass is a key part of the leadership, close to Mette Frederiksen. 1 May last year, he stole headlines with his proposals about an Australian asylum model. This time he has made very interesting comments about international courts and conventions in a TV debate with former Liberal Minister Sřren Pind.

They discuss the progress of right-wing parties across the World, and Sass states: "I think one of the reasons why extreme parties are gaining ground, is that we have made a bunch of institutions and the center of politics is just defending all of it. If it was up to me, one of the best things we could do, would be to move this authority back to Danish courts, so it's no longer them (international courts) who are deciding what happens. We have been entangled into all kinds of international courts and conventions. It will be our job to untangle ourselves from that, so we have control over things again".

They discuss the recent ECHR ruling regarding the Austrian Mohammed case. Sass:"In that ruling from Austria, it says that we should show a special consideration for Islam and Mohammed, otherwise someone will be very sad. It is some crazy things, that we suddenly have to submit ourselves to in the name of "the Good". I think that is very destructive for the center of politics, and has caused indecisive parliaments and governments, for example Merkel and Macron. The ECHR is destructive for the case of human rights, and leads to outlandish debates about immigration and racism. It has interfered in all kinds of impossible cases during recent years. It has made rulings and comments on a basis, where you very dynamically interpret some old rules. This is so destructive."

Sřren Pind, who is trying to brand himself as the Danish Carl Bildt, was of course opposed to Sass, and already tried to play the role as the good, compassionate elderly statesman.

The other members of the leadership of the party hasn't responded to Sass' comments yet. Their spokesperson on justice, Trine Bramsen, said: "The Social Democrat support for the conventions is unchanged. No matter what Henrik Sass said in a TV debate".
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